ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a review petition moved by Shahrukh Jatoi — the main accused in the 2012 Shahzeb murder case — against its Feb 1 decision of cancelling his bail and subsequent arrest from inside the courtroom No 1.

On Feb 1, a three-judge Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, set aside the bail earlier granted to Shahrukh Jatoi by the Sindh High Court (SHC) for his alleged involvement in the murder of 20-year-old Shahzeb Khan in Karachi in December 2012.

No case for review has been made out, observed the chief justice while dismissing the review petition after hearing senior counsel Sardar Latif Khosa who had sought review of the Feb 1 order.

The counsel argued that this was the first order of the apex court in which the SHC judgement was overturned by invoking court’s jurisdiction under Article 184(3) of the Constitution.

At this Justice Asif Saeed Khosa observed that it was not a matter of setting aside a high court order but the peculiarity in the matter was that the high court ignored an earlier direction of the Supreme Court and to set the matter right the apex court had to invoke its jurisdiction.

In the review petition, the senior counsel argued that the case stood eclipsed and was destined to be prejudiced if expunction of remarks, reviewing the directions and modification of the findings by revisiting the judgement was not carried out for the safe administration of justice.

He contended that Article 184 (3) of the constitution did not cater to cases emanating in the judicial hierarchy which was regulated by due process of law sanctified as a fundamental right under the constitution.

The parameters and requirements of Article 184(3) even otherwise were not available, the petition contended recalling the Supreme Court at the very inception of the incident had taken suo motu notice in 2013 because the same was obviously necessitated to streamline the investigation vigilance. But in consequence the investigation was hurriedly/maliciously completed and challan submitted on trumped up statements under section 161 of CrPC before the Anti Terrorism Court.

Such false and fabricated attributions were not supported during the trial and hence ingredients of ATC stood totally demolished, but despite formulation and preliminary hearing the same remains unattended by the apex court, the counsel argued.

The petition argued that Article 184(3) of the Constitution could not be invoked against a judgement of the SHC when it was akin to Article 199 of the Constitution.

Published in Dawn, March 6th, 2018