MUHAMMAD ZAR vs FATEH KHAN and 3 others
This matter involves a petition for leave to appeal against a judgment of the lower courts concerning a double murder case. The core legal question presented for consideration is whether the lower courts committed a legal error by classifying the incident under Exception 4 of Section 300 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860, thereby treating the offense as one of individual liability rather than joint liability. The petitioner challenges the application of this exception, arguing that the evidence failed to establish the necessary ingredients for a sudden fight, specifically that the murders occurred without premeditation, in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel, and without the offenders taking undue advantage or acting in a cruel or unusual manner. The Supreme Court granted leave to appeal to examine whether the lower courts misapplied the law regarding the applicability of Exception 4 in the context of the evidence presented. The principle at issue concerns the strict evidentiary requirements necessary to invoke the mitigation of liability under Exception 4 of Section 300, Pakistan Penal Code 1860.
- Does the application of Exception 4 of Section 300, Pakistan Penal Code 1860 require evidence that a murder was committed without premeditation in a sudden fight?
- Can individual liability be applied in a double murder case if the conditions of a sudden fight under Exception 4 of Section 300, Pakistan Penal Code 1860 are not met?
- Section 300, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
ORDER
1. MUHAMMAD MUNIR KHAN, J.---Subject to limitation, leave to appeal is granted to consider as to whether the Courts below have erred in law in treating the case of double murder as one falling under Exception 4 of section 300, P.P.C. And of individual liability when there was no evidence to show that the murders were committed without premeditation in a sudden fight in the heat of passion upon a sudden quarrel and without the offenders' having taken undue advantage or acted in cruel or unusual manner.