SC's larger bench formed to hear Arshad Sharif's murder case

ISLAMABAD:  The Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan constituted a five-member larger bench to hear a suo motu case pertaining to senior journalist and former ARY News anchor Arshad Sharif’s murder, ARY News reported citing sources.

The SC’s Practice and Procedure Committee led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa decided to form a five-member larger bench instead of a three-member bench with a 2-1 majority vote.

The sources privy to the development said that CJP Qazi Faez Isa suggested keeping the 3-member bench intact, but Justice Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Munib Akhtar, the other two members of the committee, voted in favor of forming a larger bench.

The new bench of headed by Justice Jamal Khan Mandokhail and comprising Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar, Justice Ayesha Malik, Justice Hasan Azhar Rizvi, and Justice Athar Minallah will hear the case to a date which will be announced later.

Read More: Kenyan court announces verdict in Arshad Sharif murder case

Earlier on JlThe High Court in Kenya’s Kajiado has awarded 10 million Kenyan shillings to the family of slain Arshad Sharif, a Pakistani journalist who was ‘mistakenly’ shot and killed by Kenyan police officers in October 2022.

Arshad Sharif, senior journalist was shot dead in the Kenyan capital Nairobi on October 23 where he was living in self-exile.

The official police statement later expressed “regrets on the unfortunate incident.”

Arshad Sharif’s wife Javeria Siddique through her lawyer, Advocate Dudley Ochiel, requested the court to order the Attorney General, Director of Public Prosecutions, Inspector General of Police, Independent Policing Oversight Authority, and the National Police Service Commission (the respondents) to provide her with copies of all documents, evidence, films, photographs, and video recordings in their possession related to Sharif’s shooting.

“By shooting the deceased in the circumstances described in this case and which shooting has been admitted save for allegation that it was mistaken identity, the respondents violated the rights of the deceased,” the judge said in an order.