SC hears appeals against convictions in Shahzeb murder case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan while hearing appeals against convictions in Shahzeb murder case, directed petitioners counsel to submit case papers to the court in a proper arrangement, ARY News reported on Monday.

Three convicts Shahrukh Jatoi, Siraj Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari have submitted pleas against their life imprisonment conviction in Shahzeb murder case.

The court also issued notice over the appeal of Shahrukh Jatoi to the members of the aggrieved family of Shahzeb Khan.

A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Justice Mabool Baqar heard the case.

The counsel of the convicts argued before the bench that after compromise between the two parties, the sentences in a case commuted .

Justice Qazi Ameen, a member of the bench, asked the counsel to submit the agreement between the parties in the court. “Your case papers are not properly arranged, submit the papers again in proper arrangement,” Justice Qazi Ameen directed the counsel.

The bench adjourned further hearing of the case for three weeks.

Twenty-year-old Shahzeb Khan, son of a DSP, was gunned down on the night of December 24, 2012, in Karachi’s Defence Housing Society.

The incident had sparked widespread outrage across the country and attracted much media attention, prompting the then Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of the murder.

Jatoi, and his friend Siraj Talpur were sentenced to death while his younger brother Sajjad Talpur and their cook Ghulam Murtaza Lashari were awarded life in prison by an anti-terrorism court.

The Sindh High Court (SHC) appellate bench, however, overturned their sentences and sent the case back to a sessions court to conduct trial of the suspects afresh.

In 2018, the Supreme Court had set aside the SHC November 28 verdict that had paved the way for the release of Shahrukh Jatoi and others on bail.