KARACHI: Faulty prosecution creates ground for acquittal: ATC judge says...
By Tahir Siddiqui
KARACHI, Nov 19: An Anti-terrorism court said on Monday that faulty investigation and material defects in the cases of prosecution created ground for the acquittal of the accused.
While acquitting two men in a robbery case due to defective investigation and legal lacunas, Judge Syed Zakir Hussain of the ATC-1 remarked that the courts have repeatedly pointed out the investigation defects to the high-ups through judgments and other relevant correspondence, but in vain as no positive steps had been taken and things are getting worse, damaging the public interest and reflecting the efficiency of the police officials entrusted with the task of investigation.
The case, pertaining to the snatching of 14,000 pounds from Kamran Azhar, was registered initially against three unknown robbers by the Aziz Bhatti police on the complaint of the victim.
The complainant, the general manager of N. S. Industries, Korangi, reported to the police that he went to ARK Money Changer at Sharea Faisal to exchange his 14000 UK Pounds with Pakistani currency. The cashier told him that there was no cash at that time and advised him to come again after 3.30 p.m.
He said as he reached near his house in his car, three occupants of a Suzuki car intercepted him and held him hostage at gunpoint, relieved him of cash and dropped him near the Aziz Bhatti Park and also took away his car.
According to the prosecution, the investigation officer took the custody of Jawed Sammoo and Ghulam Hyder from the Anti-terrorist Wing of the police on Jan 12, and showed their arrest in the robbery case.
The police submitted a final charge-sheet against the two accused in custody and three absconding accused. However, later the police submitted another charge-sheet whereby the names of the absconding were deleted accused.
The judge discussed at length the legal lacunas and material defects in the case, such as improper identification parade and registration of a defective FIR, which ultimately created the ground for the acquittal of the accused.
The statement of the complainant before the trial court proved to be the last nail in the coffin as he deposed that he had already been shown the two accused at the police station before he identified them in the court of the concerned judicial magistrate.
“On 24.1.2001, I got a message to come to the police station. I reached there at 7.30 p.m. The police told me that some suspects had been arrested and an identification test was arranged on 25.1.2001 before the magistrate concerned.... I am not clear and cannot say if the present accused are the same whom I saw in the police station”, the complainant deposed before the court.
About the defective FIR, the judge said it did not contain sufficient description of the accused persons. “This is the fault of the person who registered the FIR, the judge said, adding he was supposed to have inquired about the description of the accused from the complainant at the relevant time and put it down in the FIR. He said that the identification parade of a non-described accused was useless in point of evidentiary value in a court of law.
The judge further observed that another aspect of the case which shows the incompetence rather unfairness of the investigation was that the incident, as per the report of the complainant, involved only three persons, while the police initially charge-sheeted five persons. The three accused have been sent up for trial together with the present two accused without positive incriminating evidence.
“Even their parentage and proper whereabouts are missing in the charge-sheet. The officer, who has given permission to prosecute these three absconding accused persons, appears to have possessed no proper legal knowledge of criminal law.”
The judge further said it had become a constant practice that almost in every case, investigation papers, including the FIR, memo of arrest and place of occurrence and statements of the prosecution witnesses etc., are prepared by some Munshi or Muharir and many facts remain undisclosed to the court and which ultimately create a material defect in the case the benefit of which sometime becomes a ground for the acquittal of the accused as a matter of law of evidence.
The judge also desired the IGP to circulate general instructions among the sub-ordinate police officers to ensure all the FIRs are stuffed with complete available description and criminal role of each and every unknown culprit of the crime reported to the police so that no culprit could go free of the charge in his trial owing to such lacunas or lapses alone.
MUTTAHIDA MAN ACQUITTED: The district and sessions judge, Central, Zafar Ahmed Sherwani, acquitted a worker of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement in a case pertaining to the possession of an unlicensed weapon.
Syed Khalid Hussain, arrested in 1999 by the Taimuria police, was exonerated from the charge as the prosecution could not prove its case against him.
