KARACHI, October 18 (FD): The Supreme Court of Pakistan on Tuesday acquitted Shahrukh Jatoi in the Shahzeb Khan murder case. A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, also acquitted the co-accused in the case.
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had awarded the death penality to Jatoi and his accomplice Siraj Ali Talpur for Shahzeb’s murder in 2012 following a petty dispute. Siraj’s younger brother, Sajjad Ali Talpur, and domestic helper Ghulam Murtaza Lashari had been handed life sentences.
A couple of months after the sentence was passed, however, Shahzeb’s parents had issued a formal pardon for the convicts, approved by the Sindh High Court (SHC).
Despite the pardon, however, the death penalty had been upheld because of the addition of terrorism charges to the case — up until the SHC dropped the charges and ordered a retrial in the case.
The SHC, while hearing appeals against the conviction, had later commuted the death sentences into life imprisonment. Subsequently, all four accused had approached the Supreme Court.
During the hearing today, their lawyer, Latif Khosa, noted that the formal pardon had already been issued. His clients had no intention to spread terror, he argued.
Subsequently, the court acquitted all four people. A detailed order is awaited.
