MAQBOOL AHMAD And Others vs The STATE
The petitioners were convicted of murder and murderous assault by the trial court, receiving sentences including death and imprisonment for life, which were subsequently upheld by the High Court. The petitioners sought leave to appeal before the Supreme Court of Pakistan, primarily praying for a reduction of the death sentence to imprisonment for life on the sole ground that the petitioner had suffered the agony of the death cell for about eight years. The caveator argued against treating institutional delays and delays caused by the convict's own successive appeals as a mitigating circumstance to reduce the sentence, contending that the rights of the heirs to obtain justice should not be affected. The Supreme Court granted leave to consider the contentions regarding whether prolonged delay in the execution of the death sentence due to court backlogs and successive appeals constitutes a mitigating circumstance for commuting a death sentence to life imprisonment.
- Whether prolonged agony of the death cell resulting from the pendency of appeals constitutes a mitigating circumstance for reducing a death sentence to imprisonment for life?
- Does delay caused by filing successive appeals and court backlogs affect the right of heirs to obtain an appropriate sentence?
ORDER
ASLAM RIAZ HUSSAIN, J.-- Maqbool Ahmad, Muhammad Arshad and Muhammad Ahmad petitioners were tried along with another for the murder to Nazir Ahmad by giving him dagger blows in his abdomen and for making murderous assault on Faqir Muhammad, and Sardara, P.Ws. , who sustained injuries during the incident. The trial Court acquitted one of the co-accused namely Mahboob Ahmad while it, inter alia sentenced Maqbool Ahmad petitioner to death and a fine of Rs.2,000 and 2 years' R.I. In default of payment of fine, and sentenced Muhammad Arshad and Mahmood Ahmad to imprisonment for life. Their appeal before the High Court failed and the death sentence of Maqbool Ahmad petitioner was confirmed.
They have now come up before this Court through a petition for leave to appeal.
2. We have heard the learned counsel for the petitioners at some length. He has no case on merits.
He, however, prays for reduction in sentence on the ground that Maqbool Ahmad petitioner had suffered the agony of death cell for about 8] years and that this in itself should be taken as a mitigating circumstance for reducing his sentence from death to that imprisonment for life.
3. Mr. Aitzaz Ahsan, learned counsel for the Caveator however, submitted on the other hand, that the delay caused by filing successive appeals by the petitioner himself and the fact that hearing of appeals, in the circumstances prevalent at present, is generally delayed because Courts are clogged with a large number of cases or appeals with the result that they come up for hearing after considerable time, should not by itself affect the right of the deceased and his heirs and other members of his family, to obtain justice by way of an appropriate sentence of the crime committed by the accused.
Leave is therefore granted to consider the above-mentioned contentions raised by the learned counsel for the parties.
Since the matter has already been delayed considerably let the appeal be fixed for hearing on the 3rd of November, 1986, at Lahore.
Notice to the Advocate-General shall also be issued for that date.
A representative of the Inspector-General (Prisons) should be present in Court on that date.