ISLAMABAD: “Accused proved innocent. The case is closed.”
The words were the sweetest, most melodious that Sharafat Ali had ever heard. The murder accused finally got justice from the Supreme Court of Pakistan after fighting his case for 11 long years. The sessions Judge of Kasur District had sentenced the accused to death in 2010. This week, the Supreme Court’s two-member bench, headed by Justice Tariq Masood this week heard the case and honorably acquitted Sharafat of the crime he never committed.
Justice delayed in justice denied. Not a day passes by in Pakistan when this phrase does not vindicates itself. Hundreds of thousands of pending cases in courts for years on end continue to compound people’s woes and heighten their sufferings which could span a lifetime.
Sharafat Ali was accused of killing one Tariq late at night over abduction of a girl. He along with co-accused Sakhawat Ali, Amanat Ali and Asif Ali were arrested and an FIR was registered against him in Fateh Jang Police Station in Kasur District in November 2010. Since then Sharafat had been languishing in jail, despite knowing well that he is innocent.
However, when Sessions Judge of Kasur District sentenced him to death, Sharafat decided to approach the high court which, quite shockingly, upheld the sentence.
But Sharafat refused to give up. Through his lawyer Mohammad Siddique Khan Baloch, he approached the Supreme Court of Pakistan and took the same stance that the samples of the empty cartridge did not match in the forensic report with the gun which was used in Tariq’s murder.
Advocate Muhammad Siddique took the plea that since the police had failed to seize all the evidence from the place of murder, which took place late night, his client could not be charged for murder. Siddique told the apex court that the High Court had acquitted the other co-accused Sakhawat Ali, Amanat Ali and Asif Ali on the same testimony and neither the prosecution nor the government had appealed against them. Therefore, Sharafat Ali should be acquitted on similar grounds.
He further argued that according to the FIR, the reason is that Sharafat Ali had abducted a girl in Kasur district but the victim, Tariq, had taken the girl back from Sharafat. However, this was not proved anywhere in the case. “If the obstinacy is not proved, the accused cannot be punished,” argued Advocate Siddique.
He further told the court that the surviving eyewitness, Mazroob Moazzam Ali, has not been presented as a witness before the court.
The Supreme Court agreed with the arguments of Advocate Siddique and honorably released Sharafat Ali after 11 years of imprisonment.
Talking to Bol News, Advocate Saddique said that it took 11 years to prove Sharafat Ali is innocent and this is because of the judicial system prevalent in the country.
“Sharafat had spent 11 years of his prime time in jail. Not only him but his family suffered a lot which is very unfortunate. We don’t have any law to give relief to such people who spend their lives in prison and are later proven innocent.”
“We don’t have any law for such cases and no one comes forward to file a case against the complainants or ask for relief for his lifelong custody after being proven innocent. Quite often, the he reason behind it is that after fighting such a case for years, the accused and his family lose lot of money and don’t want to get involved in another legal fight,”lamented Sidique.
Though Sharafat Ali is proven innocent and the case is closed, the question remains who killed Tariq? It will probably take the courts another 11 years to find out the truth.
