| Citation(s) |
|---|
| 2025 SLG 5340 2025 SLD 5340 = 2025 LHC 585 |
Crl. Appeal No.31052 of 2023, Crl. Rev. No.43674 of 2023
PRESENT; (AALIA NEELUM) CHIEF JUSTICE
Date of hearing: 11.02.2025. Appellants by: M/s Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and Malik Haris Aslam, Advocates. State by: Mr. Muhammad Akhlaq, Deputy Prosecutor General. Complainant by: Rana Bilal Ghaffar Khan, Advocate.
(Ali Akbar, etc.
VERSUS
The State, etc.),(Muhammad Yousaf versus Ali Akbar, etc.)
Law: Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898
Section: 161, 544-A
Law: Pakistan Penal Code (PPC),1860
Section: 302,324, 148, 149
SUMMARY
The High Court allowed Criminal Appeal No.31052 of 2023 and acquitted all four appellants—Ali Akbar, Hafiz Muhammad Arshad, Amir Ali, and Allah Ditta—by extending them the benefit of doubt, while dismissing the complainant’s Criminal Revision No.43674 of 2023 for enhancement of sentence.
The Court held that the prosecution case, founded initially on an FIR and later pursued through a private complaint filed after an unexplained delay of about one year and six months, was riddled with material contradictions, improvements, and inconsistencies. The testimony of the injured complainant (PW-1) and the sole eye-witness (PW-2) was found unreliable due to frequent somersaults regarding the date, time, place of occurrence, presence of witnesses, mode of shifting the injured and deceased, and alleged source of light. Their statements before the police did not support later assertions made in court, rendering them improved and afterthought versions.
The Court further noted: