Kidnapping for ransom: SHC ready to hear appeal of men on life and death sentences

They were accused of kidnapping and killing a minor when the family didn't pay up.

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism appellate bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday admitted appeals of two convicts facing life and death sentences for kidnapping a minor for ransom and then murdering him.

The bench, headed by the Justice Sajjad Ali Shah, issued a notice to the provincial prosecutor general to file comments while the office was also directed to put up a record of proceedings from the anti-terrorism court (ATC) and prepare a case book.

Court officials believe this is the first appeal admitted for hearing by the court against capital punishment after the federal government lifted the moratorium on executions following the tragic militant attack on Army Public School, Peshawar in which more than 130 children were killed.

The convicts - Jalal and Muhammad Muneer, were accused of kidnapping seven-year-old Sohail, son of Babul, from Bengali Para in Buffer Zone on October 31, 2011.

According to the prosecution, the kidnappers had demanded a ransom of Rs50,000 from Sohail's family. Later, investigators told the court that the accused had initially kept the boy at a farmhouse for three days in Gadani.

Six days later, they killed him by smashing his head with a heavy rock in an attempt to hide his identity after the family failed to pay the ransom. Investigators succeeded in tracking down the suspects on November 9, 2011 through phone records.

The Gabol Town police registered a kidnapping and murder case against them on the complaint of the victim's father, a poultry trader. On November 1, 2014, the ATC judge handed down the death penalty to Jalal and life sentence to the co-accused Muneer under Sections 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) read with the Section 7(a)(e) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

Both the convicts challenged their conviction and sentences. They claimed that the trial court erred in deciding the case, as there were discrepancies in the trial, which needed to be looked at again. The high court was pleaded to set aside the convicts' sentences and order a re-trial. The two-judge bench admitted both the appeals for regular hearing and issued notices to the prosecutor general to file his comments.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2015.