Sarfraz Shah case: SHC reserves judgment on convicts' appeals

Karachi, May 30 (PPI): Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday reserved judgment on the appeals of convicts in Sarfraz Shah murder case against conviction.

Sarfraz Shah was murdered by Rangers personnel at Benazir Shaheed Park in Clifton on June 8, 2011. However, six Rangers personnel and a private contractor are serving life terms for committing murder.

A division bench headed by Justice Sajjad Ali Shah heard the final arguments from the deputy prosecutor general who vehemently opposed the convicts' appeals filed on Aug 25, 2011. The bench reserved the pronouncement of the verdict to a date to be announced later by the court's office.

An anti-terrorism court (ATC) headed by Bashir Ahmed Khoso had sentenced Rangers constable Shahid Zafar to death and jailed sub-inspector Bahaur Rehman, lance naik Liaquat Ali and constables Mohammad Tariq, Manthar Ali and Afzal Khan for life on Aug 12.

The civilian contractor, Afsar Khan, was also jailed for life in the case.

The appellants, through their counsel, submitted that the ATC had no jurisdiction to try the case against the personnel of law-enforcement agencies. They submitted that the prosecution did not rely upon the joint investigation team’s report that was of the opinion that the act was not terrorism

They submitted that they had been convicted contrary to the evidence available on the record and the trial court had passed the impugned judgment merely on the basis of presumptions, adding that prosecution had failed to produce any tangible evidence.