KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) has overturned the life imprisonment handed down to an appellant by the trial court in a case pertaining to the murder of his former wife.

The sessions court (East) had sentenced Mohammad Imran to life in prison in January 2020 for stabbing his former wife Mariam to death within the limits of Korangi Industrial Area in 2018.

The convict through his lawyer impugned the conviction order before the SHC. After hearing both sides and examining the record and proceedings, a single-judge bench headed by Justice Irshad Ali Shah allowed the appeal and set aside the conviction.

The bench in its order observed that complainant Mohammad Saleem, father of the deceased, was not an eyewitness and his evidence hardly lent support to the case of the prosecution while the two policemen in their testimonies said that during the questioning, the appellant admitted to have committed the offence.

However, if for the sake of arguments, it was believed that such disclosure was actually made by the appellant before the police, even then the same in terms of Article 39 of Qanun-i-Shahadat Order, 1984, could not be used against him as evidence, it added.

The bench further noted that another prosecution witness Imran Iqbal, the person with whom the deceased married after getting divorce from the appellant, had not been examined by the prosecution and an assumption could be drawn that he was given up by the prosecution as might not be going to support the case of the prosecution.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2023