SC rejects petition seeking conversion of life imprisonment into death sentence of  murder accused

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed to convert the life imprisonment to death sentence of a murder accused.

The trial court awarded capital punishment to accused Sher Zaman while the high court converted the death sentence into life imprisonment.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa and comprising Justice Sheikh Azmat Saeed and Justice Umar Ata Bandial heard the case through videolink from the SC Quetta Registry.

During the course of proceedings, the counsel for the petitioner said that two accused opened fire from the front.

The Chief Justice asked if the accused nominated ten persons, will they all be hanged.It should be mentioned that who opened fire, he added.

He remarked that the incident took place which could not be ignored. When more than one suspects are opening fire, it is difficult to identify that who fire, he added.

He observed that if the reason for the murder is not known then its benefit is to the accused.

He observed that the high court did not do wrong by converting the death sentence into life imprisonment.

The court also observed that reason for murder was not mentioned in the First Information Report (FIR).

Later the court dismissed the plea to convert accused Sher Zaman's life imprisonment to death sentence.