Shahzeb Khan. PHOTO: FILE
KARACHI: The counsels in the Shahzeb Khan murder case concluded their rebuttal arguments in the Anti-Terrorism Court III on Thursday.
Shahrukh Jatoi, Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur, his brother Nawab Sajjad Ali Talpur and their house servant, Ghulam Murtaza Lashari, have been charged with killing 20-year-old Shahzeb on the night of December 24, 2012.
The case was fixed for rebuttal arguments before the Judge Ghulam Mustafa Memon of ATC-III who has been holding the trial on a daily basis following the apex court’s ruling to conclude the trial as soon as possible. The in charge deputy district public prosecutor for the state, Abdul Maroof and the lawyers of the complainant as well as defence put forward their rebuttal arguments over the earlier final arguments in the trial.
Multiple versions
Maroof said that the defence counsels repeated the same points that have already been answered in the case. Regarding the defence counsels’ claim that the case was highly doubtful as there were contradictions and improvements in the witnesses’ statements recorded before the police and court, Maroof said that he has already submitted his reply over corroborations, technicalities and evidence.
“Technicalities can’t hamper the process of justice.” Maroof claimed that there were no improvements in the case and the evidence was “confidence aspiring” and “liable to be trustworthy”.
One of the counsels for the complainant, Salahuddin Panhwar, said that the defence counsels’ claims met with a firm rebuttal as the technicalities were proved accurate. “No U-turn or different versions surfaced in the case - there were only explanations.”
Panhwar said that defence counsels failed to counter their evidence and never challenged the murder. “They [defence counsel] also admitted misbehaving, bickering and murder through written statements in the court. They never claimed that the victim was killed by someone else.”
Following the orders of the Sindh High Court to decide the application regarding Shahrukh’s age before the final verdict, the court will hear the defence’s plea for trial under juvenile law. Maroof said that his age, educational certificates, passport, B-form and other documents will be verified in the next hearing today [Friday].
Plea against plea
The SHC dismissed a plea challenging the trial of Shahrukh Jatoi under the Anti-Terror Law on Wednesday.
The bench headed by Justice Maqbool Baqar, however, allowed the plea of Shahzeb Khan’s family which favours that Sharukh’s trial be conducted in the Anti-Terrorism Court.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 31st, 2013.
COMMENTS (2)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
i believe GOD is watching us all.. no matter how much you try and hide.
wow declared him underage as soon as the media and cheif justice put this case aside No justice in pakistan well still appreciated that our courts can be strong enough to put a wadera behind the bars for a few months LOL or is that just because the poor victims family is still standing firm SHAME on our system nothing is reliable.