SC acquits death row prisoner convicted in wife’s murder

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) has acquitted a death row prisoner, nine years after he was convicted of killing his wife.

Farhat Abbas Shah allegedly set his wife, Salma Bibi, on fire on June 6, 2009, near GT Road. Critically injured Salma Bibi gave a statement before the police in which she accused her husband of setting her aflame. She died shortly after recording her statement.

Police arrested Shah and booked him in the murder case registered at Gujar Khan Police Station, District Rawalpindi. A trial court awarded him death sentence which was subsequently upheld by the Lahore High Court (LHC) in 2011. He then filed a petition in Supreme Court seeking acquittal.

A three-member bench of the top court, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Sajjad Ali Shah and Dost Muhammad Khan, heard the case.

The top court, in its verdict, observed that there were no witnesses to the incident and the only evidence against Shah was the statement by the deceased.

The bench also noted that the medico-legal certificate revealed that word ‘somebody’ attributed to Salma Bibi was subsequently changed into ‘husband’.

“The specific word was recorded by Dr Farhat Javeed who had also put deceased under that change,” the bench remarked.