Sindh High Court. PHOTO: EXPRESS
The Sindh High Court, after the completion of arguments for the convicts Siraj Talpur and Sajjad Talpur, directed the counsels for other convicts to make their arguments against the convictions in Shahzeb Khan murder case. The hearing for the appeals against conviction was held at the high court. In his arguments, the counsel for the convicts said that Siraj and Sajjad were not present in Shahrukh Jatoi's car, and that nothing was recovered from either of the two suspects. The counsel argued that there is a contradiction in the witnesses' statement.
Justice Nazar Akbar inquired as to why the suspects escaped the scene if they were innocent. To this, the defence counsel said that the unruly situation had prompted them to flee as they had feared that they might be attacked. The court in its remarks said that the record had no mention of an attack on the suspects' homes. The counsel for Siraj, Sajjad and Mehmood Qureshi, completed his arguments. The court has asked for replies from the counsels of the other suspects in the hearing on December 3.
Two suspects, including Shahrukh Jatoi, have been awarded the death sentence in the case while two other suspects face life imprisonment. The SHC is hearing the appeals against the conviction.
Meanwhile, a local court while issuing the production orders for Shahrukh Jatoi has ordered the authorities to present the death-row convict in the next hearing. On Monday, Malir judicial magistrate heard the hearing for the case involving Jatoi's escape outside the country. Jail officials have declined to present the convict in court. The officials informed the court that Jatoi has been shifted to the death cell. They said that Jatoi has been shifted from Malir Jail to the Central Jail and is being kept under restricted access and cannot be presented before the court. Malir judicial magistrate directed the Central Jail superintendent to submit a reply and issued a production order for the convict to be presented at the next hearing. According to police, Jatoi had fled the country on December 27, 2012 through forgery and fraud after murdering Shahzeb.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 20th, 2018.
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