SC acquits murder accused after 12 years

Apex court finds inconsistencies in evidence presented against suspects

ISLAMABAD:

The Supreme Court has ordered the release of two individuals accused of murder after they had spent 12 years in prison.

The ruling was delivered by a bench comprising Justice Jamal Mandokhail, Justice Hasan Azhar, and Justice Naeem Afghan, which annulled the previous decisions of both the trial court and the high court. The judgment, penned by Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, overturned the death sentence of Muhammad Ijaz alias Billa and the life sentence of his accomplice.

Muhammad Ijaz was accused of murdering the husband of the co-accused, Naseem Akhtar, in 2010.

According to the plaintiff, the accused were caught in the act of giving electric shocks to the victim. The plaintiff claimed that upon being discovered, Muhammad Ijaz began firing, which led to the victim's death.

However, the defence lawyer argued that the case was a suicide misrepresented as murder. The defence stated that there was no evidence of an illicit relationship between the accused and that the deceased had committed suicide due to not receiving a share of the family inheritance from the plaintiff. The prosecutor maintained that the plaintiff was an eyewitness to the crime and that both accused had intended to kill the victim.

Upon thorough examination, the Supreme Court found inconsistencies in the evidence and statements presented. The court noted that while the plaintiff claimed the deceased had informed him about an illicit relationship between the accused, he was not an eyewitness to this alleged relationship. Furthermore, no case had been registered by the deceased against his wife or Muhammad Ijaz. The court was surprised that the lower courts had declared the relationship illegal without solid evidence.

Additionally, the incident supposedly took place in broad daylight, yet no witnesses corroborated the plaintiff's account.

Records indicated that the co-accused had pressured her husband to secure a share in the family inheritance, adding another layer of complexity to the case. The court also highlighted the detrimental impact of the legal proceedings on the families involved, noting that children had been separated from their mothers, causing mental distress.