| Citation(s) |
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| 2026 SLG 4495 = 2026 SLD 4495 = PLJ 2026 288 |
Supreme Appellate Court, Pakistan
J.P. No. 136 & Crl. Ps. No. 575, 679 & 756 of 2025
Presented By: Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Salahuddin Panhwar and Ishtiaq Ibrahim JUDGE
Ch. Abdul Aziz, ASC a/w Rana Kashif Saleem for Petitioners (in J.P. No. 136/2025), Mr. Ansar Nawaz Mirza, ASC a/w Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR for Petitioner (in Crl. P.L.A. No. 575/2025). Mr. M. Shahid Kamal, ASC for Petitioner (in Crl.P.L.A. No. 679/2025) Raja M. Shafat Khan, ASC a/w Complainant (in-person). Mr. Adnan Ali, D.D.P.P., Islamabad for State. Assisted By: Ms. Tayyaba Munir, Law Clerk. Date of hearing: 2.3.2026.
J.P. No. 136 & Crl. Ps. No. 575, 679 & 756 of 2025
Presented By: Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Salahuddin Panhwar and Ishtiaq Ibrahim JUDGE
Ch. Abdul Aziz, ASC a/w Rana Kashif Saleem for Petitioners (in J.P. No. 136/2025), Mr. Ansar Nawaz Mirza, ASC a/w Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR for Petitioner (in Crl. P.L.A. No. 575/2025). Mr. M. Shahid Kamal, ASC for Petitioner (in Crl.P.L.A. No. 679/2025) Raja M. Shafat Khan, ASC a/w Complainant (in-person). Mr. Adnan Ali, D.D.P.P., Islamabad for State. Assisted By: Ms. Tayyaba Munir, Law Clerk. Date of hearing: 2.3.2026.
AFTAB ZAFAR and others--Petitioners
VERSUS
STATE and others--Respondents
Law: Pakistan Penal Code (PPC),1860
Section: 302 , 364-A
Law: Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984
Section: 40
Pakistan Penal Code, 1860 (XLV of 1860)-- ----Ss. 302 & 364-A--Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 (10 of 1984), Art. 40--Qatl-i-Amd--Kidnapping and subsequent murder--Circumstantial evidence--Unbroken chain--Cigarette butts and latent fingerprints--National Forensic Science Agency (NFSA) and Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA)--Mitigating circumstances--Residual doubt--Conviction of--Death sentence is commuted into imprisonment for life--During spot inspection, Investigating Officer recovered cigarette butts and latent fingerprints--subsequent DNA analysis by Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) verified presence of convicts at site--The complainant father of minor deceased, is not an eyewitness to occurrence of kidnapping and subsequent murder of his son nor any other person has appeared to furnish an ocular account of unfortunate incident--He nominated petitioners-convicts in his supplementary statement on next day with due explanation--One produced his son, petitioner-convict, before Investigating Officer, who disclosed details of abduction and subsequent murder of minor deceased along with co-convicts/petitioners--On his disclosure, remaining petitioners-convicts were also arrested--The petitioners-convicts made disclosures admitting their involvement in commission of offence--They further disclosed that, being alarmed by intensifying police efforts and consistent cries of minor, they abandoned their plan of ransom and committed murder of minor deceased by gagging his mouth with cloth and fastening his limbs with tape--Convict led police party to said rented premised and, using key recovered from him, facilitated entry into room from where dead body of minor deceased was recovered from a wooden almirah, in a concealed condition, with this face, hands, and feet wrapped in tape--Vide post-mortem report confirmed that mouth of deceased was stuffed with cloth and secured with tape--The other petitioners-convicts also separately pointed out place of occurrence and recovery and in this regard pointation memo was prepared--Landlady of premises in question, deposed that she had rented out lower portion of her house to petitioner-convict--The testimony of this…