Daily Times

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has cancelled the death sentence of the accused in the murder case of four members of a family on Thursday.

While hearing the appeal against the death sentence and fines, the SHC nullified the verdict of the special court. The main accused had been sentenced to death and fines by the special court.

The murder suspects were accused of murdering family members of Muneeza in Customs Colony in the vicinity of Maripur police station.

The high court said that the statement of the witness Muneeza could not be fully relied upon in the multiple murder case.

The defence lawyer said that the murder incident was a result of a gang war dispute and the police trapped innocent citizens in the case. In the multiple murder case, two young accused named Adil and Basit had been acquitted by the court yesterday.

Earlier in September, the SHC bench hearing the review petition had cancelled the death sentence handed to the convict of a 2011 case of rape and murder of a six-year-old child due to lack of means at the convict’s disposal.

The anti-terrorism court had sentenced two convicts Basheer and Abdul Majeed death and life sentences, respectively. It was back in 2011 that a minor girl was abducted from her house in Karachi’s Federal B Area and was killed after sexual abuse.

The appellate bench of the SHC had repealed the special court decision that sentenced Basheer to be hanged till death while Majeed to serve a life sentence.

It was the lack of means at the disposal of the accused then and thus they could not utilize the legal assistance for their defence. Both the convicts are neighbours and the police had arrested them on suspicion.

The defence lawyer had told the court the police found no evidence and the suspects were made to confess the crime by means of torture and duress. Which the appellate court noted was not admissible.