Law:

Section:

(a) Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance (VII of 1979)--- ----S. 10(3)---Penal Code (XLV of 1860), Ss. 302(b), 377 & 201---Zina-bil-jabr, qatl-i-amd---Reappraisal of evidence---Benefit of doubt---Commission of rape and sodomy with the deceased or her murder or even concealment of her deadbody had not been seen by anyone---Prosecution witness claimed to have seen the deceased entering the shop of the appellant on the day of occurrence but in his cross-examination he had conceded that at the relevant time he was proceeding towards a destination and the shop of the accused did not fall on the route---Another prosecution witness claimed to have seen the accused going towards a forest while carrying a bag---Prosecution never established that the bag allegedly carried by the accused on that occasion contained a dead body---Besides the deadbody had not been found in a bag but was found lying in a forest---Accused allegedly made a judicial confession before a Magistrate but the same was retracted by him before the Trial Court and, thus, the said confession could not be relied upon in the absence of any independent corroboration---Prosecution made some recoveries of incriminating articles allegedly at the instance of the accused but the memoranda of such recoveries had dates tampered with and identification of the relevant articles was quite doubtful as the prosecution had failed to convincingly establish that the recovered articles actually belonged to the deceased---Case of the prosecution against the accused was primarily based upon suspicion---Accused was acquitted of the charge in such circumstances by extending him benefit of doubt---Appeal was allowed accordingly. (b) Criminal trial--- ----Standard of proof---Suspicion---Suspicion howsoever grave or strong could never be a proper substitute for beyond reasonable doubt proof required in a criminal case. THIS JUDGMENT DELIVERED BY: ASIF SAEED KHAN KHOSA, JUSTICE:------------ Muhammad Ashraf appellant was alleged to have murdered one Mst. Farwa, aged about 8 years, after committing Zina-bil-Jabar with her on 23.06.2002 in the area of Police Station Silanwali, District Sargodha and after a…

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