KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday upheld the life imprisonment handed down to a man by the trial court on charges of killing a policeman.

However, a two-judge bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha observed that the case did not fall within the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).

An antiterrorism court had sentenced Kosar alias Munna to life in prison in June 2021 for killing Constable Mehboob in an encounter in a Surjani Town locality in May 2020. His accomplice Faisal was also killed in the shootout.

The convict had approached the SHC challenging the ATC order and the bench dismissed the appeal and maintained the conviction.

The bench in its order observed that the eyewitnesses deposed against the appellant and their testimonies were fully supported by the medical evidence.

The appellant was arrested from the spot for which he could not be able to produce any valid reason and the empty bullet casings recovered from the crime site was matched with the weapon found in his custody, it said, adding that spent bullet casings also matched with the weapon of Constable Sohail, which supported his evidence of firing during the encounter.

The bench further noted that the appellant and his accomplice were riding a motorbike at the time of the incident, which was found to be owned by deceased Faisal.

It said that in the face of reliable and trustworthy eyewitness evidence and other corroborative/supportive evidence, the prosecution has proved its case against the appellant beyond a reasonable doubt under the offences of the Pakistan Penal Code.

However, the judgement said that the case did not come within the parameters of ATA as defined by the apex court in the case of Ghulam Hussain verses State reported in 2020.

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2022