LAHORE, May 7: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday issued non-bailable arrest warrants of two of the four convicted murderers of Gujranwala customs deputy commissioner, who were set free after serving the sentence awarded to them by the trial court.
Justice Khwaja Muhammad Sharif also issued show-cause notice to the four convicts, questioning why the life imprisonment previously awarded to them could not be converted into death penalty in case the appeal against the conviction was rejected by the court.
The court observed that life imprisonment and Rs50,000 fine awarded to convicts Zahid Rafiq, Ali Imran, Fayyaz Ahmad and Muhammad Husain by an additional sessions judge were insufficient since the charges of dacoity-cum-murder stood completely established from the evidence available with court. In the eyes of court, the accused should have been awarded death sentence.
The court was informed that two of the convicts, Ali Imran and Fayyaz, had gone abroad after completing their sentence. The court ordered that both be arrested and confined to a jail till the final disposal of this petition filed by Zahid against his conviction.
According to the trial court chargesheet, the four men burst into Gujranwala customs deputy commissioner Shaheen Asghar’s house at Garden Town, Lahore, bagged ornaments and shot him dead on resistance. They also took away his car after beating up the watchman.
SENTENCE: A policeman was convicted by the LHC of contempt for not responding to a court’s show-cause notice and making a false statement.
Bhikki police station SHO Abdul Akram was ordered to stand in the courtroom of Justice Sharif till the rising of the court and was fined Rs1,000. The court observed that the official did not respond to the show-cause notice and also made a false statement in the court.
On the last date of hearing, the court had summoned the SHO and directed him to file a reply to the show-cause notice, explaining why shouldn’t he be penalized for not having appeared in court despite being summoned repeatedly in a criminal petition. The SHO appeared in court, but claimed that he did not receive any notice.
The SHO was convicted when Sub-Inspector Muhammad Nazar informed the court that he had served the notice on the SHO.