LAHORE, Oct 21 (APP):The Lahore High Court (LHC) has set aside the life imprisonment awarded to Muhammad Asif in a murder case and ordered his acquittal, ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove the charge against him.
In a 20-page verdict released on Wednesday, Justice Farooq Haider directed that the accused be released forthwith, provided he was not wanted in any other case, while allowing his appeal. The court also dismissed a review petition filed by the father of the deceased, Tayyab Raza, seeking enhancement of the convict’s sentence.
The high court pointed out several discrepancies in the prosecution’s case, including an unexplained delay of around two to two-and-a-half hours in registration of the FIR and the conduct of the post-mortem examination eight hours after the incident. The judgment observed that the delay in the post-mortem examination provided time for deliberation and the possibility of concocting a story.
The court also found the testimony of the two eyewitnesses unreliable, describing them as “chance witnesses”. It observed that the witnesses, who had travelled from locations 60 to 80 kilometres away, had failed to provide a plausible explanation for their presence at the crime scene.
The verdict noted that the FIR did not initially name any suspect and that Asif’s name was added later through a separate application.
The court also questioned the evidentiary value of the pistol allegedly recovered from the accused and the forensic report, observing that the bullet casings had been sent to the forensic laboratory after the accused’s arrest.
The recovery of the deceased’s motorcycle was also viewed with suspicion.
The high court further observed that the prosecution had failed to establish the motive for the murder. It noted that the accused had not even been questioned about the alleged motive in his statement recorded under Section 342 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The judgment held that once the primary evidence was found unreliable, the alleged motive could no longer carry any weight in sustaining the conviction.
An additional sessions judge had sentenced Muhammad Asif to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 in 2021.
Source: APP (Associated Press of Pakistan)
