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KARACHI, Feb 14: Inadmissibility of a child’s evidence saved his father from execution for killing his mother at Kharadar in 1992.
Mohammed Feroze was arraigned for stabbing his wife, Naheed, to death with a spike. Their only child, five-year-old Khurram, was the only eyewitness to the incident as alleged by complainant Mohammed Javed, Naheed’s brother. An additional sessions judge convicted the accused in 1997 and sentenced him to death with a fine of Rs50,000 or five years’ jail in default. He was also to pay Rs100,000 to the legal heirs of the deceased.
The conviction and sentence were challenged before the Sindh High Court in 1997. It was argued on behalf of the appellant that the child was too young at the time of occurrence for his eyewitness account to be reliable or his evidence admissible in a court of law. Kharadar is a congested locality and the incident would immediately have come to the knowledge of neighbours. The child was tutored by the complainant and his other maternal relations, who lived in a nearby house. According to the evidence recorded by a magistrate, the child went to sleep after the incident which, according to the appellant’s counsel, was unbelievable.
A division bench of the Sindh High Court, comprising Justice Shabbir Ahmed and Justice Azizullah M. Memon, accepted the appeal on Friday. It held that the child’s evidence was not sufficient to sustain the conviction. Acquitting the appellant, the bench set aside the sentence and ordered his release from the death cell, if not wanted in any other case.
INQUIRY ORDERED: The Sindh High Court directed the Karachi Building Control Authority to hold an inquiry into approval of building plans in violation of the Revised Master Plan for Roads of 1964 and take action against its delinquent officials under intimation to the SHC registrar.
The direction came in a division bench judgment on a writ petition seeking a restraint order against the KBCA in respect of a structure allegedly encroaching upon a piece of land reserved for the 1964 road widening scheme.
The petitioner, Ms Farida Begum, submitted that the KBCA was out to demolish a structure raised by her on Plot 64/65, Survey Sheet SB-2 (measuring 347 square yards) in front of Clayton Road, Karachi, for allegedly encroaching on land earmarked for the widening of Chand Bibi Road. She said the KBCA allegation was false and produced documents and maps to show that a number of buildings had been approved by the KBCA in clear violation of the demarcation line approved in 1964 for widening of the road.
The bench, which consisted of Justice Sabihuddin Ahmed and Justice S. Ali Aslam Jafri, strongly “disapproved the conduct and dealing of the KBCA” in granting permission to the owners of certain buildings in clear violation of the 100 feet width of the particular road. It expressed its “grave concern and dismay” over the conduct, behaviour and working of the KBCA officials in approving buildings in contravention of the Revised Master Plan for Roads.
