Life imprisonment: PHC commutes death sentence of murderer

Muhabat Khan appealed against verdict over loopholes in investigation.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has commuted the death sentence of a man who killed his nephew over a monetary dispute in 2009 to life imprisonment.

Muhabat Khan had filed an appeal challenging his death sentence. A division bench of Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani on Tuesday partially accepted his appeal and reduced his sentence to life imprisonment.



During the hearing, Barrister Zahoorul Haq, Muhabat’s counsel, informed the court the incident took place on June 21, 2009 in Topi, Swabi. Haq said his client was arrested for killing his nephew, Fida Muhammad, over a money dispute. A trial court had handed down a death sentence to Khan and a fine of Rs0.7 million.

Loopholes

The counsel said the trial court ignored a series of legal points when they convicted his client and requested the division bench to acquit Muhabat. According to Haq, his client was 83 when he committed the crime and had been provoked to attack his nephew. Moreover, the evidence collected from the crime scene conflicted with the statements recorded by the witnesses.



The state’s counsel justified the trial court’s sentence, saying Muhabat Khan should not be acquitted as he had committed the crime and was directly charged in the FIR.

After hearing the arguments, the bench commuted Khan’s death sentence to life imprisonment.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 14^th, 2015.