ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of a petitioner after 28 years, citing lack of evidence as a reason.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, on Thursday overturned the death sentence to life imprisonment of an accused, Muhammad Riaz, charged with the murder of a woman in Attock.
Police registered the FIR of the case in 1998.
The Lahore High Court (LHC) had then given the accused a death sentence.
During the hearing on Thursday, Riaz’s lawyer Siddique Baloch questioned the authenticity of available evidence and said that the medical report states that one shot was fired but the FIR mentions that two shots were fired.
Justice Khosa observed discrepancies in the evidence presented before the court.
Sidique also mentioned that the accused’s divorced wife was witness to the incident but she refused to give testimony in the court leading to insufficient evidence.
The court overturned the verdict from the death sentence to life imprisonment which amasses minimum 25 years prison time.