Death row convict acquitted

All witnesses were from victim’s family, gave false testimonies

RAWALPINDI:

The Lahore High Court (LHC) Rawalpindi Bench on Thursday voided the death sentence of a convict over false testimonies.

The bench acquitted Muhammad Imran who was charged with killing a woman on rejecting his marriage proposal. A two-member bench including Justice Raja Shahid Abbasi and Justice Sadiq Mehmood Khurram presided over the appeal of Imran against the death sentence and fine of Rs1 million.

The petitioner’s lawyer, Advocate Raja Ghaneem Abir said that the Attock police had booked his client in 2015 and registered a case against him for killing Gulfareen Bibi on rejecting his marriage proposal.

The counsel for defence contended that there was no impartial eyewitness of the offence. “The victim’s family members were made witnesses in the case while the police associated a fake murder weapon with Imran and claimed that the suspect had used it to kill the victim,” Advocate Abir argued.

The lawyer pointed out the contradictions in the statements of the witnesses. However, a lower court awarded the death sentence to his client based on the FIR and witnesses’ statements who were all relatives of the victim.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2020.