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SC accepts apology of magistrate over negligence in identification parade

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ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday winded up a case involving alleged negligence on part of a magistrate that led to imprisonment of man for 10 years, ARY News reported.

Magistrate Kanwar Anwar Ali who was summoned by the court tendered his apology in the case and it was accepted by the top court bench.

He told the court it was 10th day of his service when the identification parade held.

“I have sympathies for you,” CJP remarked. He added that identification parade was related to police rules and not any other law.

Read more: Magistrate’s ‘negligence’: SC releases murder suspect imprisoned since 2009

The court said Ali was an administrative officer and it was mistake on part of the government to elevate him as magistrate.

Chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa said Ali was not even trained as per the law. The court said it was inappropriate to form a queue and conduct identification parade. The protection of witnesses is also very necessary in such cases, he CJP said.

Case background

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in 2009 had found Asfandyar guilty of murdering Adil Butt, a student. According to the prosecution, Asfandyar had kidnapped Butt for ransom and killed him after the victim’s family failed to pay the money. The case was later heard by the LHC that overturned the ATC’s verdict and sentenced him to life.

It later transpired that the magistrate’s negligence led to acceptance of statement of eye-witnesses who were not even present at the crime site.

In the last hearing, the CJP cited a statement by one eye-witness in which he claimed to have seen four people throwing away a dead body in river, while another witness said he saw two people dumping the body in river.

Taking notice of an alleged negligence on part of the magistrate, the court ordered the magistrate Kanwar Anwar Ali to appear in person on Feb 22.

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