Shahzeb murder: SC hear pleas of Shahrukh Jatoi, others

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday heard appeals of Shahrukh Jatoi and others against their sentence in the Shahzeb murder case, ARY News reported.

Shahrukh was sentenced to death by an anti-terrorism court but later the high court had commuted it into life term in the 2012 Shahzeb murder case.

A three-member bench of SC comprising Justice Muzahir Naqvi, Justice Ijazul Ahsan and Justice Muneeb Akhtar took up the pleas of the accused in the murder case.

At the outset of the hearing, Justice Naqvi asked that the case against Shahrukh Jatoi was of section 302 of the PPC, how come terror charges remain in the case when the aggrieved party reached a settlement?

Jatoi’s lawyer Latif Khosa said his client is in jail for the last eight years, despite an agreement with the Shahzeb family, who is currently settled in Australia.

Upon being asked can the terror charges remain in the case by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, the prosecutor general Sindh said, the judgement of a seven-member SC bench is clear in this context, Shahrukh Jatoi cannot be booked under terrorism charges.

Justice Ahsan said terrorism and murder are two separate crimes, killing someone with a Kalashnikov is not terrorism? he asked in his remarks.

Justice Ahsan while giving more time to the respondents for preparation in the case adjourned the further hearing until March 10.

Shahzeb murder case

Shahrukh Jatoi was involved in the killing of Shahzeb Khan, the only son of a retired DSP, in Defence Housing Authority in December 2012. An ATC had handed him death sentence in 2013.

In 2017, the complainant side had ‘pardoned’ him under the Qisas and Diyat law. However, in 2018, the Supreme Court of Pakistan took notice of it. Subsequently, his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment by the Sindh High Court (SHC).