Retraction under duress?

Retracting from a confessional statement by the victim’s family is void under law. It is considered as done under coercion, and the new legislation goes on to earnestly protect the victim’s heirs and wards. This is why confessional video statement of Nazim Jokhio’s wife that she was pardoning her husband’s powerful assassins is taken with a pinch of salt. Jokhio, a journalist, was found murdered at a farmhouse in Karachi, which belonged to PPP legislators — Jam Abdul Karim, MNA, and Jam Awais, MPA. Both were booked over the murder in November last year, and terrorism charges were slapped. Thus, it takes away the provision for a compromise by the victim’s family, which is usually done under intimidation and influence in our lawless and feudal society.

The pardon statement, moreover, has come at a time when the accused MNA is required for casting his valuable vote in favour of the no-trust motion against the PM. While MNA Jam Karim has been absconding since then, his return from abroad and subsequent extension of bail till April 11 has simply connected the dots. This is tantamount to culpability, and a leading political force of Sindh is unnecessarily burning its fingers. The egalitarian party, which has been a torch-bearer of human rights, is taking a myopic stance by standing behind an accused person, who otherwise should have been asked to face the court of law.

Shireen Jokhio’s submission will not stand the litmus test of veracity under the law. It is a good feature that the state will act as a prosecutor on behalf of the victim in such cases. Moreover, Advocate Mukhtar Junejo, who is an eyewitness in the case and also represents the complainant, says the pardon holds no legal value as the victim’s legal heir is his mother, and not wife. This has not only simplified the table of prosecution but has taken steam out of the apparent cooked-up retraction under alleged political duress. This case has once again brought to the fore how lacunas in the law are twisted for relief, and how justice is denied on the parameters of political and personal exigencies. Jokhio’s murder trial should see the light of the day in all seriousness of law.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2022.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.