KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has commuted the death sentence of an appellant into life imprisonment in a case pertaining to the murder of a police officer during a bank heist.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha observed that the capital punishment, handed down by the trial court, was being reduced into life term as it was not conclusively proved that whether it was the appellant or his now deceased accomplice who had fired the fatal shot to the slain police officer which caused death.

The bench further noted that the case did not fall within the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) since apparently the intention of appellant was to rob the bank which escalated to murder, but had no intention to create terror.

An antiterrorism court had sentenced Muhammad Nawaz to death on two counts and also awarded multiple sentences of imprisonment in October 2020 for killing Sub-Inspector Muhammad Ishaq Abbasi during a robbery at a private bank in a Landhi locality in April 2014.

The convict had approached the SHC and challenged the trial court order and after hearing both sides and examining the record & proceedings, the division bench partly allowed the appeal regarding the offences of Anti-terrorism Act, 1997 and dismissed the same about the offences of Pakistan Penal Code while modifying the death penalty.

The bench observed that the prosecution has proved its case as evidence of eyewitnesses, mainly bank staff, was reliable and trustworthy, a weapon found in the custody of appellant was matched with the spent bullet casing collected from crime scene, and the CCTV footage of bank has also supported the case of prosecution.

The appellant also has previous criminal record of bank robberies while he had simply taken the defence plea of false implication despite admitting his presence at the crime scene, it added.

According to the prosecution, two armed men had stormed the branch of a private bank on April 1, 2014, in Sharafi Goth and in the meantime, SI Abbasi along with a police constable had come there to check the bank guards and other security measures.

The police officer, who had already lost his one arm in a previous encounter with criminals, tried to intercept the bank robbers who fired at him and a bank guard and later, the police officer succumbed to his wounds at a hospital, it added.

The prosecution said that both the robbers had also sustained injuries during exchange of fire, and Faizan was killed while appellant Nawaz was arrested in a wounded condition and an unlicenced weapon was found in his possession.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2022