SC acquits all accused in Pindi Gheb terror, murder case

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - The Supreme Court has acquitted all accused nominated in a murder and terrorism case.

Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim issued a written verdict on the appeals filed in the case.

The apex court set aside the death sentence awarded by the trial court and upheld earlier by the high court.

In its written judgment, the Supreme Court stated that the accused were given the benefit of doubt and ordered their immediate release.

The court noted that the accused were not nominated in the FIR, which made the identification process doubtful.

The written decision further stated that the presence of witnesses at the scene and the fact that none of them suffered even minor injuries in such a major attack appeared unnatural.

It also observed that the joint identification parade of the accused was legally unacceptable and unsafe, adding that the police had already revealed the identities of the accused before the identification parade took place.

The judgment also mentioned that according to police, the accused had confessed to the Pindi Gheb incident during the investigation of another case.

However, the accused had already been acquitted in that case, which rendered the alleged confession legally invalid after their acquittal.

The court concluded that the prosecution failed to present solid and independent evidence against the accused.

It is worth mentioning that the incident took place on May 1, 2011, in Pindi Gheb where gunmen opened fire on police personnel.

In the attack, six policemen, including Sub-Inspector

Muhammad Ramzan, were killed.

The accused were also charged with setting oil tankers on fire and snatching government weapons, after which the trial court had sentenced them to death six times each along with life imprisonment.

The high court had earlier upheld the punishments awarded by the trial court.