LHC acquits man, son in murder case of assistant commissioner

LAHORE, Sep 25 (APP): The Lahore High Court (LHC) has acquitted a man and his son who had been sentenced to life imprisonment and death respectively for the murder of Assistant Commissioner Jhang Imran Jaffar.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Shehram Sarwar Chaudhry and Justice Sardar Akbar Ali Dogar allowed appeals filed by Asghar Ali and his son Sohail Asghar and set aside the judgment of the Sessions Court, Chiniot, which had convicted them in the murder case.

In its detailed judgment issued on Friday, the high court observed that the prosecution had failed to establish the presence of the alleged eyewitnesses at the crime scene through reliable evidence. The court also noted significant contradictions between the statements of the witnesses and the medical evidence, which could not be ignored.

The bench held that in a criminal case, the prosecution is required to prove its case against an accused beyond reasonable doubt. However, it had failed to establish an unbroken chain of evidence meeting the required legal standard in the present case.

According to the prosecution case, Asghar Ali and his son Sohail Asghar had allegedly shot and killed Imran Jaffar on December 5, 2021. At the time of the incident, Jaffar was serving as Assistant Commissioner Jhang and had returned home while on leave.

The deceased and the accused were close relatives, while their families were also embroiled in a dispute over drainage and the disposal of wastewater.

The Sessions Court, Chiniot, had sentenced Sohail Asghar to death and his father, Asghar Ali, to life imprisonment. The convicts subsequently challenged their convictions before the LHC.