SHC acquits suspect in student death case

ATC Hyderabad convicted Khaskheli to life in jail

HYDERABAD:

A man convicted to life imprisonment for causing unintentional death of a female student by creating circumstances which led to her suicide almost a decade ago in a university's hostel has been exonerated from the charges.

A Sindh High Court bench, Karachi, comprising justice Omar Sial and justice Mohammad Abdur Rehman pronounced the judgement, acquitting Anees Khaskheli besides issuing instructions for the lower courts to follow in such cases. The judgment stretches to 16 pages.

On January 1, 2017, a final year student Naila Rind was found dead in her hostel room in Sindh University with her body hanging from the room's ceiling fan. The police investigation later found Khaskheli responsible for alleged blackmailing and harassment which prompted the student to take her life.

The Jamshoro district's police later booked him under sections 315, 316 and 509 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), sections 9 and 13 of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act (PECA) and section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act. The Anti Terrorism Court Hyderabad in January, 2023, convicted Khaskheli to life in jail, finding him guilty under the ATA read with section 321 of PPC which pertains to Qatl-bis-sabab [unintentional homicide] and PECA's section 21.

Khaskheli had filed an appeal against his life-long punishment in the SHC, Hyderabad bench, which had initially heard the case before it was transferred to Karachi. The SHC's bench found that the prosecution failed to prove any offence under the ATA, PPC and PECA. "No dissemination or public display of photos was proved," the judgment highlighted, adding, "Blackmailing was not proved. No unlawful act on Anees' part was proved."

The court observed that the former DIG Hyderabad Khadim Hussain Rind had at a press conference after the incident "recklessly and inappropriately stated that this was not a case of suicide but of murder". "At that point not a shred of evidence supported that conclusion," the judges stated.

The bench pointed out that the case's investigation officer had produced photocopies of some documents as evidence. The bench underlined that section 321 of PPC did not apply to the case in question. They referred to section 306 of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code (IPC) which made abetment of the commission of suicide punishable with up to 10 years imprisonment and a fine.

"No equivalent provision exists in the Pakistan Penal Code." The judges noted that such a legislative gap allowed offenders in such circumstances to evade punishment besides complicating investigations and constraining courts in administering justice.

The judges stated that it was for the Sindh government's law department to decide if a provision identical to IPC's section 306 would better serve the families of suicide victims in the pursuit of justice.