Shahzaib murder case: SHC commutes death sentence of Shahrukh Jatoi into life imprisonment

A division bench of Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday commuted the death sentence of Shahrukh Jatoi and Siraj Talpur in Shahzaib murder case into life imprisonment. Court upheld the life imprisonment awarded to co-accused Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari in the same case when the bench announced its verdict, which was reserved on March 11 this year.
The division bench comprised of Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Justice Nazar Akbhar in a verdict announced that since the legal heirs of deceased Shahzaib have compounded the offense of Qatl-i-amad under Section 302 P.P.C, therefore, along the lines of dictums laid down by the Supreme Court with regard to the impact and effect of compounding offenses under the provisions of Pakistan Penal Code and Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, the Special ATA Appeal No. 19 & 25/2013 to the extent of Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur and Shahrukh Jatoi are partly allowed and as a result thereof, the death sentence awarded to Shahrukh Jatoi and Nawab Siraj Ali Talpur is reduced from death penalty to life imprisonment under Section 7 (a) of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997, which is not compoundable.
The sentence of life imprisonment awarded to appellants Ghulam Murtuza Lashari and Nawab Sajjad Ali Talpur though compounded under Section 302 P.P.C but these two appellants have also been convicted for life imprisonment under Section 7 (a) of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 which is maintained, the verdict reads.
26-year-old Shahzaib was murdered in December 2012 in Defence Area of Karachi. Anti-Terrorism Court had sentenced Shahrukh Jatoi and his friend Siraj Talpur to death in June 2013 whereas two other co-accused were sentenced to life imprisonment after then Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry took suo-motu notice of this murder.
The parents of deceases Shahzaib Jatoi pardoned the culprits of their son's murder, which led the convicts to appeal in SHC against the verdict of ATC. A two-member bench of SHC led by Justice Salhuddin Panhwar heard the appeal and ordered to omit the clauses of terrorism from the verdict of ATC and directed the sessions court to hear afresh.
A sessions court hearing the case afresh ordered to release all the convicts on bail, which moved the civil society to file the appeal against the decision of session court in apex court. On 1st February 2018, apex court ordered to arrest the accused and ordered SHC to hear the case. After hearings spanning over two years, SHC bench reserved the verdict on March 11, 2019 and announced it on Monday to commute the death sentence of Shahrukh Jatoi and Siraj Talpur into life imprisonment and upholding the life imprisonment of others.