A division bench of Lahore High Court Wednesday adjourned hearing of an appeal against acquittal of Mustafa Kanju in Zain murder case till December 14.
The bench headed by Justice Shahid Hameed Dar was hearing the appeal filed by the provincial prosecution department.
During the hearing, the Prosecutor General of Punjab Ehtesham Qadir submitted that under section 161 of the Law of Evidence, the trial court was bound to check whether the witnesses were speaking truth or not but it failed to consider the fact and acquitted the accused while relying on the statements of the witnesses.
He also submitted that the trial court did not record statements of the investigation officer, recovery officer and other officials which was mandatory.
He said the eyewitnesses were associated with profession of property dealing. They retracted from their earlier statements on the pretext that the police got their thumb impressions and signatures on blank papers. He said that such a statement was not admissible from witnesses who were linked with property business and know the importance of signatures.
At this , the court criticised the performance of the prosecution department during the trial and observed that it failed to fulfil its duties.
The court adjourned the matter till December 14 and asked prosecutor general to continue his arguments on next date of hearing.
