Shahzeb murder: Case result of egotism, not terrorism

The Supreme Court on Monday said that Shahrukh Jatoi was allowed to go free because the court cannot punish someone once they have been pardoned of the crime by the affected party. Moreover, the life imprisonment under the terrorism charge for murder Shahzeb Khan was also removed because evidence and circumstances did not support its application. This was contained in a detailed, written verdict issued by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice Ijazul Ahsan, Justice Munib Akhtar, Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi. The court had acquitted Shahrukh Jatoi in the terrorism case and arms case on October 18. It issued the written verdict over a month later on Monday, November 21. The 17-page verdict stated that the high court had already, when deciding to convert the death sentence to life imprisonment had done so after it found the pardon and compromise between the two parties to be genuine and not extracted under duress. On the matter whether it was a terrorism case, under which Shahrukh was sentenced to life in prison, the court noted that the evidence and circumstances did not attract the terrorism clause. “This court in the seven members’ bench judgment has settled the issue that not every case of grievous bodily injury or harm, damage to private property, doing anything that is likely to cause death or endangers a person’s life etc would amount to terrorism,” it said as it defined what constituted terrorism. This particular case, the court noted, was the outcome of personal egoistic approach and there was no design or purpose of destabilizing the government, disturbing the society or hurting a section of the society with a view to achieve objectives which are essentially political, ideological or religious, therefore, provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act were not applicable in the present case. “It becomes crystal clear that there was no element of terrorism in the present case. Possession of fire arm Court ruled that if the crime empty (empty bullet casing) is sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory after the arrest of the accused or together with the crime weapon, the positive report of the said Laboratory looses its evidentiary value. “It smacks of foul play on the part of the Investigating Officer simply for the reason that till recovery of weapon, he kept the empties with him for no justifiable reason. In this view of the matter, we set aside the conviction of the appellant Shahrukh Jatoi under Section 13(e) of the Arms Ordinance. Read the full verdict below
https://www.samaaenglish.tv/news/40021871/pakistan-shahzeb-murder-case-result-of-egotism-not-terrorism