KARACHI: A bench of the Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday reserved its decision over the appeals of the convicts including Shahrukh Jatoi in the Shahzeb Khan murder case.
The complainant of the case and father of the murder victim both have died, the counsel informed a two-member bench comprising Justice Agha Faisal and Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar.
“A widow and two daughters are left in the family. All of them are staying abroad and don’t want to appear in the court,” the counsel further said.
“If an agreement has been reached between the accused and the family of the victim, it could only be confirmed by contact made via a video link,” the lawyer added.
“At least the address of the heirs of the victims should be on the record. From whom they are facing threats and until when will they remain in hiding?” the bench asked.
“They should file a case against those from whom they feel threatened,” the bench further remarked.
Additional Prosecutor-General Zafar Ahmed Khan in a previous hearing said that the parties cannot reconcile in the cases of terrorism and no compromise had been reached at the subordinate court.
“The SHC had requested affirmation from the family regarding the settlement,” he said adding that a settlement could not be filed without the consent of the public counsel.
“It was inappropriate for the defence lawyers to declare Shahrukh Jatoi a juvenile at the time of the murder. Each and every medical report pointed out that Jatoi was above 18 years at the time of the incident. Hence, his case could not have been run under the juvenile system in the first place,” he said.
