This criminal appeal arose from the conviction of the appellant under Section 302(b) of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, and his subsequent sentence of death, which was maintained by the High Court. Leave to appeal was granted by the Supreme Court of Pakistan solely to consider the quantum of the appellant's sentence. The Supreme Court observed that the assault on the deceased was preceded by an altercation and exchange of abuses at the spot, indicating a lack of premeditation. Additionally, the complainant was not an eyewitness, and the individual who allegedly informed him of the incident denied witnessing it during the trial. Furthermore, the husband of the deceased had entered into a compromise with the appellant on his own behalf and on behalf of the minor children, which was not legally finalized. Applying established precedent, the Court held that while a partial compromise cannot affect a conviction under Tazir, it may be considered a mitigating factor for sentencing. Consequently, the Supreme Court reduced the appellant's sentence from death to imprisonment for life.
' ASIF SAEED KHAN KHOSA, J.---Muhammad Amin Appellant had allegedly committed the murder of one Mst. Kalsoom Bibi and for commission of that offence he was booked and tried in case FIR No.325 registered at Police Station Wahdat Colony, Lahore on 29-11-2001 for offences under section 302, P.P.C. And section 13 of the Pakistan Arms Ordinance, 1965 and after a full-dressed trial the trial court convicted him for an offence under section 302(b), P.P.C. And sentenced him to death which sentence was subsequently confirmed and maintained by the High Court. Hence, the present appeal by leave of this Court granted on 21.04.2010.
2. Leave to appeal had been granted in this case only to consider the question regarding quantum of the appellant's sentence.After hearing the learned counsel for the parties and going through the record we have observed that according to the FIR itself the appellant had not straightaway launched an assault Upon Mst. Kalsoom Bibi deceased and the assault launched by him was preceded by an altercation and exchange of abuses at the spot which showed that the situation had taken an ugly turn at the spot in the absence of any premeditation on the part of the appellant. The record of the case further shows that Muhammad Mehboob complainant, husband of Mst. Kalsoom Bibi deceased, was not an eyewitness of the occurrence and according to the FIR he had been A informed about the incident in issue by Muhammad Yaqoob (CW1) but during the trial the said Muhammad Yaqoob (CW1) had contradicted the complainant in that regard and had maintained that he had not seen the occurrence at all. Another factor having some bearing upon the question of the appellant's sentence is that the husband of the deceased, on his own behalf as well as on behalf of the minor children of the deceased, had forgiven the appellant and had entered into a compromise with him which compromise was not given effect to by the courts below because the compromise was incomplete. It has been clarified by this Court in the case of Abdul Ghaffar and others v. The State (2015 SCM R 1064) that a partial compromise may not have any bearing upon conviction of an accused person in a case of Tazir but it may have, in the circumstances of a given case, some relevance to the question of sentence in such a case. In the above mentioned circumstances of this case we have felt persuaded to reduce the appellant's sentence of death to imprisonment for life on the charge under section 302(b), P.P.C. This appeal is, therefore; dismissed to the extent of the appellant's conviction for anoffence under section 302(b), P.P.C. Recorded and upheld by the courts below but the same is partly allowed to the extent of the appellant's sentence which is reduced from death to imprisonment for life. The benefit under section 382-B, Cr.P.C. Shall be extended to the appellant. This appeal is disposed of in these terms.