While hearing an appeal challenging death sentence on Friday Justice Athar Minallah of the top court expressed reservations over validity of media reports and interviews as piece of evidence in criminal cases saying the law of the land provides proper procedure for confession in criminal cases.
A court of sessions in Sindh has awarded death penalty to an accused of murder in response to confession of the crime during a media interview but the same retracted his statement in front of a magistrate during trial. The Sindh High Court upheld the court of Sessions verdict. Later, the accused person challenged the conviction before the Supreme Court.
Hearing the appeal, Justice Athar Minallah of the Supreme Court made it clear that it is the exclusive responsibility of an investigating officer to collect evidence without external interference. The Judge questioned credibility of media interviews presented as evidence observing, “What is the legal status of interviews by media persons in criminal cases”?
He expressed in response to arguments of defense counsel in the matter who pointed out that a journalist had declared one accused guilty of murder in their report, which led to concerns over fair trial procedures. Justice Minallah emphasized that no interference should occur during the investigation saying, “In criminal cases, evidence is collected through investigations, and no one other than the investigating officer can interfere.” The court also expressed concerns about the fairness of the trial, with Justice Irfan Saadat asking, “Should the accused be sentenced to death based on media interviews?”