Verdict: Life conviction cannot be more than 25 years, rules SHC

Murderer Fareed Bhatti's double death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in 2006

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has ruled that the maximum jail term for a murderer, whose double death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment, cannot extend beyond 25 years.

The ruling came on a convict's appeal against the jail authorities' 'misinterpretation' of counting the double death sentence as a double life imprisonment sentence of 50 years.

Fareed Bhatti was handed down the death sentence twice by District West's additional district and sessions judge on February 17, 2005, in a double murder case.

The prosecution alleged that Bhatti had shot dead Abdul Khalique and Abdul Malik over a petty dispute within the limits of Docks police station on April 14, 1991. He was arrested on October 9, 1991.

The trial court had also ordered Bhatti to pay a fine of Rs300,000 each to the legal heirs of the victims.

On December 5, 2006, the SHC upheld his conviction but commuted the death sentence into life imprisonment. "Since the trial court had awarded death twice to the appellant, the jail authorities specified the total period of imprisonment as 50 years, or twice life imprisonment," Bhatti's lawyer, Khawaja Naveed Ahmed, told the judges.

He also pointed out that while modifying the sentence, the SHC had simply passed the sentence for life imprisonment, which is 25 years. "There was no order for two life sentences," he argues, pleading the court to direct the jail authorities to correct their record.

Ahmed maintained that the appellant had served out his sentences concurrently and they could not, therefore, be counted separately.

The assistant prosecutor general also examined the judgment in question and agreed with the appellant's lawyer.

"We have also examined the case file and feel that the maximum sentence, in accordance with the judgement, could be 25 years - that is, life imprisonment," observed the bench.

The judges therefore ordered the Karachi Central Jail superintendent to submit a fresh jail roll for the appellant on February 17.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 2rd, 2015.