ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has acquitted a man, who was accused of torching his wife to death in Faisalabad in 2012, of all charges.

Mohammad Imran was sentenced to death by a trial court. However, the capital punishment was commuted to life imprisonment by the Lahore High Court on an appeal by the accused.

Headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, a three-judge Supreme Court bench on Wednesday gave the accused the benefit of doubt due to contradictions in the prosecution evidence. According to the judgement, the prosecution had failed to prove its case.

The registration of an FIR after eight days smacked of mischief and raised eyebrows, the court observed. It recalled that the medical report had suggested that she died after a gas cylinder blast.

The chief justice regretted that the courts’ job to do justice was becoming all the more difficult because witnesses tended to hide facts.

Justice Khosa observed that the medical report suggested that the wounds suffered by the woman were caused by the blast.

It appeared, the chief justice bemoaned, that the in-laws of the accused changed their mind hoping to make some money. This indicated that the family was lying, Justice Khosa observed.

“It is the duty of the Supreme Court to interpret and explain the law, but when facts are suppressed the judiciary’s job becomes difficult,” Justice Khosa regretted.

Published in Dawn, April 4th, 2019