The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has reserved judgment on the maintainability of a petition with regard to determination of age of a death convict Faisal Mehmood.
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui took up the case for hearing Monday.
Mehdi Khan Advocate, counsel for the petitioner took the plea before court that Faisal Mehmood was below 18 years at the time of offence and he had passed his matric examination during his jail sentence. “We have attached a computerised certificate of the union council and a primary school certificate for the determination of his age,” he pleaded.
Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui inquired from the counsel for petitioner, “We had announced the decision in respect of a petition filed in connection with the determination of age for Shafqat Hussain. Foreign forces were involved therein. Have you not read that decision?”
Mehdi Khan advocate said, “We had sent an application to the president of Pakistan for determination of age but our plea for determination along with our plea for mercy has not been heard.”
The learned judge remarked, “Is the president entitled to remit the conviction after confession of crime by a convict? Determining the age and remitting the conviction is the domain of judiciary only.”
The learned judge remarked, “The Supreme Court (SC) has also awarded punishment to the convict. Now tell us what can we do about it.”
The counsel for the petitioner said that the high court wields the powers for determination of age as per law. He requested the court that since the convict was not adult at the time the crime occurred, the death sentence awarded to him should be set aside.
The court reserved judgment upon the matter.
It may be mentioned that district court Gujarat and Lahore High Court had awarded life imprisonment to the convict and family members of the victim moved SC against this prison term.
The apex court awarded capital punishment to the convict. Death warrants of the convict have been issued and he will be hanged in central jail Gujarat on May 27, 2015. The family members of the convict have sent a letter to Ministry of Interior seeking determination of his age.