Apex court throws out acquittal plea in acid throwing case

Justice Manzoor Malik said the crime of throwing acid on a woman is extremely brutal

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed plea filed for the acquittal of Ali Awan, accused of throwing acid on a woman named Shakeela in Islamabad in 2010.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Justice Qazi Mohammed Amin Ahmed, heard the case.

During the course of proceedings, Justice Manzoor Malik said the crime of throwing acid on a woman was extremely brutal. The court after hearing arguments maintained the sentence and dismissed plea of the accused.

Justice Malik during the hearing maintained that the offence of throwing on a lady is agonising and beyond pardon. It is better to shoot someone than to deface for life by throwing acid, he said.

He highlighted the emotional and psychological pain a woman, or any other person, would suffer for losing the face the cherished.

He turned down the argument that the victim was trying to implicate the accused. Instead, he said, why not increase the punishment of the accused.

The counsel of the accused maintained that she does not want to extend the punishment of her client upon which the court rejected the appeal of the accused.

The accused had barged into the home of Shakeela and thrown acid on her. A trial court had awarded him 10-year imprisonment.

In a similar case, Supreme Court Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa had remarked that there was no clemency  for people convicted of acid throwing. 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 18^th, 2019.