PESHAWAR, Nov 27: Taking exception to non-compliance with law by a Qazi court in Dir district, a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court has set aside capital punishment awarded to an appellant without any trial by the court.

The bench directed that the case, in which the appellant was sentenced without trial, be remitted to the prosecution with direction to submit proper report as required under the Criminal Procedure Code before the competent court within 15 days.

Moreover, the bench observed that trial be conducted within four months preferably by a sessions judge other than the previous judge, Amir Gulab Khan, if he was still posted at the same station.

Advocate Asthagfirullah appeared for the appellant, Zarbad Shah, and contended that the court of Zila Qazi (sessions judge) convicted the appellant when he was produced before him for recording his confessional statement. He contended that neither challan of the case was submitted before the court nor other legal formalities required under the CrPC were fulfilled when the appellant was awarded death sentence.

The bench, comprising Justice Khalida Rashid and Justice Shehzad Akbar Khan, regretted that the court had condemned the appellant to death which was against all the legal and judicial norms and justice.

The court observed: “Sitting as Qazi in the court of sessions it is always expected of the sessions judge to follow strict compliance of law and not to decide cases specially of murder cases according to his whims putting aside set procedure of law.”

The court further observed that the sessions judge (Zila Qazi) observed in the impugned order that the accused could not be allowed to take law in his hands knowing little and ignoring the fact that he himself torn the legal norms into pieces.

The bench took serious note of this conduct of the sessions judge and directed that he should refrain from proceeding with such sensitive cases in a haphazard manner.

In the instant case on April 10, 1999, the officials of police post Badwai, Dir District, received information about murder of an Afghan named Faqir Shah by the appellant, Zarbad Shah. The accused-appellant was produced before the court on April 16, 1999, for recording his confessional statement.

The high court has ruled that Chapter XV of CrPC gave conditions requisite for initiation of proceedings by the court. The court ruled that section 193 of CrPC enabled a sessions court to take cognizance of an offence as a court of original jurisdiction where the case had been sent to it by a magistrate.

The bench has also referred to other sections of CrPC, which the learned judge had ignored while convicting the appellant.