1989 SCMR 1168

MUHAMMAD AMIN Versus STATE

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Citation1989 SCMR 1168

CourtSupreme Court of Pakistan

Case No.Criminal Review Petition No.3‑R in Criminal Petition for Special 'Leave to Appeal No. 39‑R of 1988

Date1989-02-26

Judge(s)Muhammad Haleem, CJ., Nasim Hasan Shah, Shafiur Rahman and Ali Hussain Qazilbash

ResultOrder accordingly

AI Summary — generated from this judgment; read the full text below and verify before relying on it.

The petitioner, originally sentenced to death, sought review of his conviction. During the pendency of the proceedings, the President of Pakistan issued a general order commuting death sentences to life imprisonment. Consequently, the petitioner was transferred from the death cell to the general jail population to serve a life sentence. In light of this development, the petitioner's counsel did not press the review petition but requested liberty to revive the matter should the President's commutation order be modified or withdrawn, potentially adversely affecting the petitioner's concession. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition as not pressed, while expressly granting the petitioner leave to reactivate the proceedings if future circumstances regarding the validity or modification of the presidential order necessitate a decision on the merits. The Court held that such a request for future revival is reasonable given the ongoing constitutional challenges to the presidential order in the High Courts.

Questions settled in this judgment

Can a review petition be dismissed with leave to reactivate if the underlying basis for the relief granted changes?
Is a request to revive a dismissed petition reasonable when the petitioner's sentence commutation is subject to ongoing constitutional challenges?

commutation of sentencedeath penaltypresidential pardonreview petitionlife imprisonmentwithdrawal of petition

ORDER

1. MUHAMMAD HALEEM, C J. ‑In accordance with the recent order passed by the President of Pakistan reducing the sentence of death passed against all such convicts to life imprisonment, the petitioner has been shifted from the death cell to the general section of the jail to undergo life imprisonment.

2. The learned counsel for the petitioner, on account of this development, does not press the review petition. He, however, submits that several Constitutional petitions have been filed in the High Courts to challenge the validity of the general order of the President, aforereferred to and prays that in case the aforesaid order of the President is modified in any way and the concession granted to the petitioner affected he should be permitted to get this petition revived for disposal on merits. The request is reasonable.

3. This petition is dismissed but with leave to the petitioner to reactivate the matter if necessary.

4. M.BA./M‑786/S Order accordingly.