KARACHI: A sessions court has directed a man to pay over Rs6.7 million as diyat (blood money) to the legal heirs of a teenage boy who was killed in accidental firing in the Chakiwara area.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Irshad Hussain found Muhammad Hasnain alias Babul guilty of committing the offence of qatl-bis-sabab (manslaughter), as, in an “intoxicated” condition, unloading the chamber of a pistol led to firing and resulted in the death of a 14- to 15-year-old boy, Rahid Ali.

The judge convicted him on two counts. For the offence of manslaughter, he was directed to pay diyat of Rs6,757,902, equivalent to 30,630 grams of silver, while for possessing an illegal weapon, the court sentenced him to three years in prison and imposed a fine of Rs50,000.

The court ruled that the convict would remain in prison until payment of the diyat amount, in accordance with the law.

It noted that eyewitnesses had deposed that the victim died from a fatal firearm injury caused by Hasnain, observing that the prosecution failed to prove an intention to murder, while the evidence on record established that the accused caused the death of the deceased by an act falling within the ambit of Section 322 (qatl-bis-sabab) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

“The key issue is intention (niyyat) and knowledge (ilm). It admitted fact that according to section 300 PPC intention to cause death, or intention to cause such bodily injury likely to cause death is required whereas here in this case according to the eye witnesses the accused was offloading or unloading and playing with chamber of his pistol in a state of intoxication at the function of Mehndi and admittedly according to the witnesses there was no prior enmity or targeting shown so here in this case direct intention to kill the deceased is missing,” the court observed.

According to the prosecution, eyewitnesses stated that in the wee hours of the morning (around 3am) they had gathered near Bakra Chowk, near Rehmania Masjid in Chakiwara, Lyari, where a mehndi function was underway.

Meanwhile, the accused, who was in an “intoxicated” condition, allegedly took out a pistol and fired two aerial shots. They claimed they tried to stop him. However, when the accused pointed the gun at one of the eyewitnesses and attempted to unload the chamber, a bullet was fired, as a result of which the victim, who was standing next to the eyewitness, fell to the ground and later succumbed to firearm wounds.

The court noted that four witnesses had also deposed that after the incident the accused tried to escape from the spot, but was caught. He later requested the brother of the deceased to forgive him as he had “mistakenly fired”.

During the arguments, the accused denied the allegations and claimed innocence. However, the court rejected the plea and noted that he had failed to produce substantial evidence in support of his defence. It further observed that the crime weapon was recovered on the pointation of the accused and matched the empties recovered from the crime scene.

Two separate FIRs were registered at Chakiwara police station for offences under Section 302 (murder) and 34 (common intention) of the PPC as well as 23(1) (a) of the Sindh Arms Act 2013.

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2026