The Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) has ruled that it was a mandatory legal requirement for a convicted person to surrender to the law before filing an appeal in the Supreme Court, and failure to fulfill this condition rendered the appeal inadmissible.
According to a written order issued by the Supreme Court in its appellate jurisdiction, the court upheld an objection raised by the Registrar’s Office and rejected a criminal miscellaneous appeal filed by Zainul Abideen, alias Zain, who was convicted under the Punjab Food Authority Act.
The appellant’s counsel, Shahid Mahmood Khan Khilji, argued that the Judicial Magistrate Section 30 of Lahore had granted bail to the accused to file an appeal while suspending the execution of the sentence on the grounds that it was less than one year. Therefore, he contended, the Registrar’s Office’s objection was invalid. He further added that the Lahore High Court had rejected the appeal on August 1, 2025, solely on the grounds of time-barring, and that the appellant was prepared to surrender and submit surety bonds.
The court stated that under Order 23, Rule 8 of the Supreme Court Rules 1980, it was mandatory for a convict to surrender before filing an appeal.
The court further noted that no change has been made to this legal requirement in the Supreme Court Rules 2025; therefore, the principle established in the Muhammad Adnan case remained fully applicable to the present case.
The court concluded that since the appellant failed to meet the mandatory condition of surrendering, the objection raised by the Registrar’s Office was in accordance with the law, and the criminal miscellaneous appeal was rejected as being inadmissible.