KARACHI, Jan 13: Two workers of the banned Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, prosecuted for a sectarian murder case, were sentenced on Tuesday to death by an anti-terrorism court.
Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 also imposed a fine of Rs100,000 each on Mohammad Azam and Ataullah who were found guilty of having killed Syed Hamid Ali Rizvi on Sept 1, 2001, in Clifton.
The judge ordered that the defaulter on the payment would have to undergo an additional six-month term. The two accused were also ordered to pay Rs200,000 as Diyat or, in lieu of that, undergo an additional one-year imprisonment. Special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined in all 13 witnesses, including two eye-witnesses.
JUDGMENT RESERVED: An anti-terrorism court reserved judgment in a kidnapping-cum-murder case against two teenaged students. Judge Arshad Noor Khan of the ATC-3 fixed Jan 15 for the pronouncement of the judgment after hearing final arguments from the prosecution and the defence.
Waqar Shamsi, a student of class nine, and his friend, Mohammed Arshad, have been tried for kidnapping and killing a classmate of accused Shamsi by the court under the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000.
According to prosecution, Waqar Shamsi and his two alleged accomplices kidnapped Hafiz Mohammed Umer for ransom and strangled their victim on Sept 16 last year.
Accused Shamsi allegedly called his classmate to his home and then took him to the house of his friends - Mohammed Arshad and Imran Masih alias Raja - in Akhtar Colony. They allegedly injected a mouse-killing drug to their victim and fixed an adhesive tape on his mouth as he started crying. Later, the accused allegedly strangled the captive with an electric wire.
The accused allegedly phoned the victim's family and demanded Rs3 million as ransom for the release of Hafiz Umer. They asked the family to deliver money at the Mehmoodabad graveyard or they would kill the hostage.
Special public prosecutor Naimat Ali Randhawa prayed the court to award maximum punishment to the accused as the prosecution had successfully proved its case.
Defence counsel Wazir Hussain Khoso requested the court to acquit his clients as they were innocent and that the police had let off the real culprits and implicated the accused.
SSP Randhawa argued that accused Shamsi was picked up from his house after the victim's family cast doubts on him. He said the teenaged accused broke up when he was tactfully interrogated.
He contended that accused Shamsi confessed to have kidnapped and killed the victim and the police recovered the body next day on the lead given by him.
He stated that after a couple of days accused Arshad was arrested in Korangi, where he was hiding in the house of his maternal aunt. The ATC-3 was assigned the trial of the juvenile accused by the home department under a notification.
Prosecutor Randhawa examined witnesses, including the brother, father and the maternal uncle of the victim. One of the prime witness for the prosecution was the owner of the house, where the victim was kept and killed.
While arguing the case, he also referred to the deposition of Maqbool Husain, owner of the house. He said the house owner was the most important and most reliable witness, who had last seen accused Shamsi and victim together going into the house.
According to his deposition, he saw accused Imran and Arshad going to the house around 3:30pm. After a little while, he said, accused Waqar Shamsi, along with Hafiz Umer, reached the house. The house owner submitted that the next morning police came there along with Shamsi and recovered the body of the victim from the house.
SENTENCED: The additional district and sessions judge, West, Sikandar Ali Lashari, sentenced a man to different terms, totalling 17 years, for attempting to kill his former wife with a knife and injuring her.
Accused Muslim Khan was booked on June 12, 1997 by the Pirabad police under Sections 324, 337-B and 337-F of the Pakistan Penal Code. The judge sentenced him to a 10-year term for attempting to kill Yasmeen. The accused was also fined Rs30,000 and he would have to undergo an additional one-year term in case of default on the payment. The judge sentenced him to a seven-year under Section 337-B and a three-year term under Section 337-F.