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ISLAMABAD, Jan 20 (APP):The Supreme Court of Pakistan has converted the death sentence of an accused, Abrar, into life imprisonment in the murder case of his wife, after declaring the recovery of the weapon and forensic evidence unreliable.
According to the verdict, the trial court had sentenced Abrar to death for the murder of his wife, Zeenat Bibi, and also awarded him seven years’ imprisonment for injuring her father by firing. The Lahore High Court had upheld the trial court’s decision.
Hearing the appeal, the Supreme Court observed that the empty shells recovered from the crime scene were sent to the forensic laboratory with a delay of 37 days, which seriously undermined the credibility of the forensic evidence.
The court further noted that no independent witness was present at the time of the alleged recovery of the weapon, and therefore the prosecution failed to prove the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.
According to the prosecution, the accused had opened fire at his in-laws’ house on January 17, 2020, killing his wife Zeenat Bibi, while her father was injured in the same incident.
The appeal was heard by a three-member bench comprising Justice Irfan Saadat Khan, Justice Naeem Akhtar Afghan and Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan. In light of these facts, the Supreme Court ordered the conversion of the death sentence into life imprisonment.