Shahzeb Khan murder: Shahrukh Jatoi may walk away from the gallows
Those convicted of murdering teenage boy Shahzeb Khan may be able to walk away from the gallows if the court accepts the compromise reached between the victims family and the convicts.
So far, the court has declared that the much-criticised compromise is genuine. Karachis anti-terrorism court-III (ATC-III) confirmed that the agreement pardoning the four convicts, Shahrukj Jatoi, Nawab Siraj Talpur, Nawab Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari, is authentic.
In June 2013, the same court had awarded capital punishment to Shahrukh, the son of business tycoon Sikandar Jatoi, and his friend Siraj, for killing the 20-year-old son of DSP Aurangzeb Khan in Karachis DHA neighbourhood on December 25, 2012. Their accomplices, Sajjad (Sirajs younger brother) and Lashari (Talpurs servant) were given life imprisonment.
The murder trial gained media attention when the victims family launched a protest movement. The then chief justice of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the killing and pursued the case, which led to Shahrukhs arrest from the United Arab Emirates.
All the convicts had appealed against their conviction to the Sindh High Court (SHC). A year after the appeals were still pending, the victims parents and two sisters surprisingly announced pardon for Shahrukh and the three other convicts in the name of Allah without receiving blood money. They even pleaded the high court release them at the earliest.
Without passing any order, the SHC had on July 1, 2014, directed the ATC-III to verify the authenticity and genuineness of the compromise signed between the two parties within three weeks.
Recently, ATC judge Saleem Raza Baloch filed his report dated September 23, 2014, to the SHC, which was seen by The Express Tribune. The statements of DSP Aurangzeb, Shahzebs mother Ambreen and sister Maha were recorded, said the report. The judge reported that the statement of Shahzebs other sister, Parishay Waqar, was recorded in the United Kingdom through the High Commission of Pakistan at London, which was duly signed by Parishay Waqar and Mazhar Hussain, the consul attach at the Pakistani High Commission.
In their respective statements under oath, Shahzebs family members stated that they were the legal heirs of the deceased and there was no other legal heir, said Baloch. They said that they have forgiven the accused Shahrukh, Siraj, Sajjad and Lashari in the name of Almighty Allah without taking any consideration on account of diyat, stated the report.
The news of the compromise was published in daily newspapers as well but none appeared to file objections to the compromise till date, the judge reported. Accordingly, in view of the statements made by the above mentioned legal heirs of the deceased, Shahzeb, I am of the humble opinion that the compromise between the parties is genuine, the ATC judge confirmed.
Legal battle
The case has taken several interesting turns. Initially, a government-appointed medical board had declared Shahrukh to be a minor and had sent him to juvenile jail. In its second report, the board had declared him to be somewhere between 19 to 20 years old.
His familys repeated attempts to prove him juvenile and to have his trial run by a sessions court based on the defense lawyers claims that the case did not fall under the ambit of the anti-terror law were rejected by the SHC.
According to legal experts, Shahrukh could have avoided capital punishment if his juvenility had been established. If the trial had been shifted to the lower courts, it would have allowed the parties to reach a compromise even after the conviction.
Given the compromise signed between the two families, experts said that the death sentence awarded under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code can be comprised, but the sentences under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) cannot be.
According to the convicts lawyer, Syed Rasheed A Razvi, the Supreme Court had, in 2014, accepted in a case in which capital punishment under the Section 302 (premeditated murder) as well as the Section 7 of the ATA was given to the convicts. In that case, the apex court had commuted the death sentence into life imprisonment.
If the SHC considers the SC ruling applicable to Shahzebs case, the convicts may walk out of the jail after serving their life sentence instead of walking to the gallows.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2015.
Those convicted of murdering teenage boy Shahzeb Khan may be able to walk away from the gallows if the court accepts the compromise reached between the victims family and the convicts.
So far, the court has declared that the much-criticised compromise is genuine. Karachis anti-terrorism court-III (ATC-III) confirmed that the agreement pardoning the four convicts, Shahrukj Jatoi, Nawab Siraj Talpur, Nawab Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari, is authentic.
In June 2013, the same court had awarded capital punishment to Shahrukh, the son of business tycoon Sikandar Jatoi, and his friend Siraj, for killing the 20-year-old son of DSP Aurangzeb Khan in Karachis DHA neighbourhood on December 25, 2012. Their accomplices, Sajjad (Sirajs younger brother) and Lashari (Talpurs servant) were given life imprisonment.
The murder trial gained media attention when the victims family launched a protest movement. The then chief justice of Pakistan took suo motu notice of the killing and pursued the case, which led to Shahrukhs arrest from the United Arab Emirates.
All the convicts had appealed against their conviction to the Sindh High Court (SHC). A year after the appeals were still pending, the victims parents and two sisters surprisingly announced pardon for Shahrukh and the three other convicts in the name of Allah without receiving blood money. They even pleaded the high court release them at the earliest.
Without passing any order, the SHC had on July 1, 2014, directed the ATC-III to verify the authenticity and genuineness of the compromise signed between the two parties within three weeks.
Recently, ATC judge Saleem Raza Baloch filed his report dated September 23, 2014, to the SHC, which was seen by The Express Tribune. The statements of DSP Aurangzeb, Shahzebs mother Ambreen and sister Maha were recorded, said the report. The judge reported that the statement of Shahzebs other sister, Parishay Waqar, was recorded in the United Kingdom through the High Commission of Pakistan at London, which was duly signed by Parishay Waqar and Mazhar Hussain, the consul attach at the Pakistani High Commission.
In their respective statements under oath, Shahzebs family members stated that they were the legal heirs of the deceased and there was no other legal heir, said Baloch. They said that they have forgiven the accused Shahrukh, Siraj, Sajjad and Lashari in the name of Almighty Allah without taking any consideration on account of diyat, stated the report.
The news of the compromise was published in daily newspapers as well but none appeared to file objections to the compromise till date, the judge reported. Accordingly, in view of the statements made by the above mentioned legal heirs of the deceased, Shahzeb, I am of the humble opinion that the compromise between the parties is genuine, the ATC judge confirmed.
Legal battle
The case has taken several interesting turns. Initially, a government-appointed medical board had declared Shahrukh to be a minor and had sent him to juvenile jail. In its second report, the board had declared him to be somewhere between 19 to 20 years old.
His familys repeated attempts to prove him juvenile and to have his trial run by a sessions court based on the defense lawyers claims that the case did not fall under the ambit of the anti-terror law were rejected by the SHC.
According to legal experts, Shahrukh could have avoided capital punishment if his juvenility had been established. If the trial had been shifted to the lower courts, it would have allowed the parties to reach a compromise even after the conviction.
Given the compromise signed between the two families, experts said that the death sentence awarded under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code can be comprised, but the sentences under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) cannot be.
According to the convicts lawyer, Syed Rasheed A Razvi, the Supreme Court had, in 2014, accepted in a case in which capital punishment under the Section 302 (premeditated murder) as well as the Section 7 of the ATA was given to the convicts. In that case, the apex court had commuted the death sentence into life imprisonment.
If the SHC considers the SC ruling applicable to Shahzebs case, the convicts may walk out of the jail after serving their life sentence instead of walking to the gallows.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 30th, 2015.
- Featured Thumbs
- https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBU843JU0AApedl.jpg:large
