The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ruled that multiple life sentences awarded by a sessions court in a single trial shall, as a general rule, run consecutively unless the court specifically orders them to run concurrently.
The apex court further held that paragraph 40 of the judgment in the “Shah Hussain case” does not constitute a binding precedent regarding the interpretation of Section 35 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, while the five-member bench ruling in the “Bashir versus The State” case remains valid and enforceable law.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, and comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, issued a detailed judgment dismissing a jail petition and criminal appeal filed by convict Qaiser Abbas in a double murder case.
According to the judgment, the case pertained to FIR No. 828/2011 registered at Allama Iqbal Town police station, Lahore, in which Qaiser Abbas was accused of shooting dead Faiza Bibi and Abiha on June 23, 2011. The prosecution stated that a dispute had taken place a month earlier between the convict’s sister and one of the deceased women, which led to the murders out of personal enmity.
The trial court had sentenced the convict to two separate life imprisonments under Section 302(b) of the Pakistan Penal Code and directed that both sentences would run consecutively. The Lahore High Court had upheld the conviction and sentence.
During the hearing before the Supreme Court, counsel for the convict did not challenge the conviction on the merits but requested the court to order that both life sentences run concurrently. The defence argued that under Section 35 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, a person cannot practically serve more than one life sentence.
The Supreme Court held that the legal issue had already been settled by a five-member larger bench in the “Bashir versus The State” case, which ruled that multiple life sentences awarded in a single trial are to run consecutively unless the court expressly directs otherwise.
The court further observed that paragraph 40 of the “Shah Hussain versus The State” judgment could not be treated as a binding precedent because the earlier larger bench decision in the Bashir case had not been considered in that ruling.
The judgment stated that allowing multiple murder sentences to run concurrently would create the impression that killing more than one person carries the same punishment as killing a single individual, which would be contrary to the principles of justice and law.
The apex court emphasized that every human life has independent value and that each murder warrants a separate punishment. Therefore, consecutive sentences in such cases are consistent with the requirements of justice.
The Supreme Court dismissed both petitions and upheld the judgments of the trial court and the Lahore High Court.
Separately, the Supreme Court of Pakistan, in an important ruling, has held that ignoring the law of limitation, the legal status of registered documents, and the limits of the High Court’s revisional jurisdiction in a property dispute constitutes a serious legal error that may affect the validity of a judgment.
The detailed judgment, approved for reporting, was issued by a two-member bench comprising Justice Shahid Bilal Hassan and Justice Shakeel Ahmad after hearing a review petition.
According to the judgment, the dispute related to property, where the parties had claimed ownership on the basis of different registered sale deeds and revenue entries.
The court observed that the suit was instituted in 2005, whereas the principal documents connected with the dispute dated back to 1978, 1989 and 1991, indicating that the matter had been brought before the court after a considerable delay.
The apex court held that the law of limitation carries fundamental importance and that claims filed after unreasonable and unexplained delay become legally non-maintainable. The court stated that disregarding this principle amounts to a legal error.
The judgment further noted that registered documents are deemed to constitute public notice under the law and that their remaining unchallenged for a long period strengthens their legal validity.
The court also clarified that the revisional jurisdiction of a High Court is limited in scope and does not ordinarily permit reappraisal of evidence or reversal of concurrent findings of the trial court and appellate court unless there is a manifest legal or factual error on the record.
The Supreme Court held that these fundamental legal principles had been overlooked in the present case, resulting in a legal error.
Allowing the review petition, the apex court set aside the earlier judgment and restored the decisions of the trial court and the appellate court.