Shahzeb murder case: Top court rejects plea for transferring trial to sessions court

Shahrukh Jatoi claims he was wrongly tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act.

KARACHI:

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea filed by Shahrukh Jatoi, the principal accused in the Shahzeb Khan murder case, to set aside the high court’s order and transfer the murder trial proceedings from the anti-terrorism court to a sessions court.

The apex court’s two-member bench observed that the application had become infructuous, as the trial had already been completed and sentences awarded to the defendants by the trial court.

Shahrukh Jatoi and Siraj Talpur were handed down death sentences, while Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari were sentenced to life imprisonment by a special anti-terrorism court last year.

Jatoi had filed an application in the SC against the order passed by the high court.



In his plea, Jatoi stated that he had been wrongly tried under the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, although the case fell within the ambit of the Section 302 of the penal code.

The applicant contended that he had approached the Sindh High Court, seeking transfer of proceedings to an ordinary session’s court while the trial was underway.

Earlier, the bench had adjourned the hearing directing the advocate on record Mazhar Chohan to call the applicant’s lawyer.

When the bench took up the matter again, Chohan informed the judges that the applicant’s lawyer was out of the city and requested adjournment of the case, following which the plea was dismissed.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2013.