KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has commuted the life term of a man into the period he has already spent in prison in a murder case.

A sessions court had sentenced Abdullah to life imprisonment in 2017 for killing his relative and neighbor, Zulfiqar Ali, in August 2013 within the limits of Darro police station.

The convict had filed an appeal before the SHC against the trial court order and after hearing both sides and examining the evidence, a single-judge bench, headed by Justice Omar Sial, commuted the sentence.

The bench in its judgement observed that the counsel for the appellant did not argue on merits and requested for reduction in the sentence to the period he had already undergone in prison.

The jail roll showed that the appellant had completed 19 years of his sentence which also included the remissions granted to him while additional prosecutor general also argued that keeping in view the circumstances of the case and the evidence led at the trial, he would have no objection on behalf of the state if the sentence awarded to Abdullah was treated as undergone, it added.

The bench further said, “I tend to agree with the position taken by the learned Additional Prosecutor General. The FIR and the evidence led at trial show that the murder was not pre-planned or pre-meditated; the complainant alleged no motive.”

“The hatchet with which he hit Zulfiqar was already with Abdullah when he tied the buffalo to the wall of Abdullah’s home. Only one strike was made. Evidence shows that delays in providing medical treatment may also have contributed to blood loss, leading to death. It would have been just and fair if Abdullah was convicted under section 302(c) PPC and not section 302(b) PPC,” it added.

Published in Dawn, October 22th, 2023