PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has set aside the conviction and sentence of life awarded to a juvenile offender in an honour-related murder and remanded his case for retrial by a juvenile court.

A bench consisting of Justice Salahud Din and Justice Qazi Jawad Ehsanullah allowed the appeal of the convict to the relevant additional sessions judge in Wari, Dir Upper, with the direction to conduct his trial before the juvenile court of competent jurisdiction and should thereafter proceed with the matter, in accordance with law.

“At the very outset, it was noted that at the time of the alleged commission of the offence present appellant/convict was a juvenile offender; however, despite that, his trial was conducted before an ordinary court of criminal jurisdiction,” the bench observed.

It was observed that as per the contents of FIR, the alleged offence was committed on July 13, 2022, whereas as per the card arrest memo age of the appellant was shown as 17/18 years; therefore, at the time of commission of the offence, he was a juvenile below the age of 18 years.

Bench remands case to juvenile court for retrial

The bench ruled that the trial of the appellant should have been conducted by a juvenile court of competent jurisdiction. The bench also expressed its concern over the role of the prosecution, the defence and the trial court in the instant case.

The bench observed that at first instance it was the prosecution/investigating officer, who himself prepared the card of arrest memo in the case in hand, wherein the age of the appellant was shown as 17/18 years; therefore, it was the duty of the prosecution to submit a challan against the appellant before the juvenile court instead of the ordinary court of criminal jurisdiction.

The bench further observed that the presiding officer had shown the age of the appellant as 17/18 years while framing the charge; therefore, it was his prime responsibility to ask the prosecution to furnish a challan (charge sheet) against the appellant in the capacity of a juvenile offender.

It was observed that the available record suggested that the judge of the trial court remained a silent spectator throughout the trial proceedings, whereas he should have been more vigilant and cautious.

“The matter not ended here, the conduct and demeanour of learned defence counsel representing appellant during the trial proceedings was highly deplorable, rather it amounts to professional misconduct on his part in terms that he did not agitate the issue of juvenility of his client before the learned trial court, more particularly, when there is a hell of difference between the statutory period qua conclusion of trial for major accused and that of a juvenile offender, which is six months in the case of juvenile offender,” the bench observed.

The appellant was convicted by an additional sessions judge/izafi zila qazi, Wari, on December 23, 2023, for killing one of his male relatives and critically injuring his sister. The trial court had sentenced him to life imprisonment and fined Rs100,000 as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased man.

He was also sentenced to 10 years rigorous imprisonment and to pay a fine of Rs50,000 for fasad-fil-arz (mischief on earth) under section 311 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). He was also sentenced on different counts under several provisions of PPC for inflicting multiple injuries on his sister.

The prosecution claimed that the injured woman had friendly relations with the deceased man. It was alleged that on the night of the occurrence, the woman had gone out to meet the deceased man, and the accused had fired at them when he had found them together.

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2025