PESHAWAR, July 10: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday set aside the capital punishment of a juvenile offender and acquitted him in a quadruple murder case. The punishment was awarded by an anti-terrorism court in Swat.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez Khan and Justice Qaim Jan Khan accepted an appeal filed by accused Bukht Shaid and observed that the evidence on record did not connect the appellant to the commission of the offence.

The appellant, who was 15-year-old at the time of crime’s occurrence, was charged with the murder of Muhammad Zameen, his sons Muhammadzada and Nawabzada and his nephew Alizaib. They were killed on July 29, 2002 in the jurisdiction of Wari police station in Upper Dir district.

According to the police, Bukht Shaid had a dispute with the deceased over a poppy crop and he had taken away 8kgs of opium after killing them at their house.

Bukht Shaid had recorded a confessional statement in which he said that two of his friends had taken him to the said house and asked him to stay outside. He claimed that after sometime he heard gunshots and his friends came out from the house and told him that they had killed four people. He said they asked him to flee away.

Appellant’s counsel Asadullah Chamkani argued that it was a case of no evidence and the occurrence took place at night. He argued that there was no eye witness who had seen the appellant at the place of the incident.

Mr Chamkani contended that the appellant was convicted on the basis of the confessional statement. He said the statement was taken under duress and the appellant was tortured by the police. He argued that even in his confessional statement Bukht Shaid had stated that he had not entered the house.