Law: Pakistan Penal Code, 1860

Section: 302(b)

Law: Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898

Section: 544-A, 173,382-B ,340(2),342

Summary

The Supreme Court of Pakistan, in a judgment by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, condoned a 715-day delay in Javed Ali's jail petition challenging his death sentence for murdering 17-year-old Talha Amjad under section 302(b) PPC. The Court upheld the conviction based on consistent eyewitness testimonies (father and uncle of the deceased), corroborated by medical evidence, forensic matching of the pistol and empties, and a plausible motive of coercion for immoral acts. However, considering the convict's young age (18 years, 6 months at the time of the 04.07.2017 incident), the death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment while maintaining compensation of Rs.200,000 under section 544-A CrPC.

Core Points

• Prosecution Case: Petitioner Javed Ali shot Talha Amjad near Feroze Deena Fauji's land at 07:45 a.m. on 04.07.2017; deceased was on a donkey cart returning from fields, witnessed by father Muhammad Amjad (PW-1) and uncle Muhammad Asif (PW-2); motive was grudge over convict's alleged coercion of deceased into immoral acts.
• Trial and Appeal History: Convicted by Additional Sessions Judge Shahkot (30.04.2019) under section 302(b) PPC with death as ta'zir and Rs.200,000 compensation; Lahore High Court dismissed appeal and confirmed death sentence (14.03.2023).
• Eyewitness Reliability: Testimonies consistent on incident details, place, time, and post-incident events; broad daylight occurrence among co-villagers ruled out mistaken identity or substitution; no contradictions in cross-examination.
• Corroborative Evidence: Medical evidence matched injuries; PFSA report confirmed .30 bore pistol recovered at convict's instance matched crime empties; prompt FIR ruled out deliberation.
• Motive Assessment: Non-reporting of coercion plausible due to social stigma and family honor; no prior FIR expected in such sensitive matters.
• Sentencing Mitigation: Convict aged ~18.5 years (per NADRA Form-B); youth as mitigating factor despite not being juvenile; death penalty reserved for "rarest of rare" cases—commuted to life imprisonment under proportionality principles.

Laws and Sections

JUDGMENT