KARACHI, May 13 (INP): The Sindh High Court on Monday commuted capital punishment awarded to two prime accused in Shahzeb Khan murder case – Shahrukh Jatoi and Siraj Talpur – into life imprisonment.

The high court maintained life imprisonment award to Sajjad Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza.

Shahzeb murder case: Police arrest Shahrukh Jatoi, two others after SC verdict The 20-year-old, son of a Deputy Superintendent of Police Aurangzeb Khan, was gunned down in Karachi’s Defence Housing Authority (DHA) area on the night of December 24, 2012.

[timed-content-server show="05/14/2019 01:00 Asia/Karachi"]Shahzeb was returning home from a wedding with his sister. He was killed for picking a fight with one of the suspect’s employees who had verbally harassed his sister. The incident sparked outrage across the country leading to the then chief justice of Pakistan, Iftikhar Chaudhry, taking a suo motu notice. The murder initiated a debate over the powerful feudal families getting away with committing a crime. In July 2013, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi awarded death penalty to Shahrukh and Siraj for the murder of Shahzeb while Sajjad and Ghulam were given life imprisonment. Shahrukh was handed down an additional three years in prison for illegal possession of a weapon. The ATC directed the convicts to pay a Rs 500, 000 fine each. A few months after the verdict, however, the victim’s father granted a pardon to the accused. Reportedly, the move came under duress. In November 2017, the SHC decided on a criminal review petition and set aside capital punishment awarded to the accused and ordered a retrial. The defence counsel had argued for the terrorism charges to be dropped considering the prime suspect was a juvenile at the time of the offence. Shahzeb murder case: SC orders names of Shahrukh Jatoi, three others to be placed on ECL In February 2018, the Supreme Court turned petitions by civil society into a suo motu notice and set aside a 2017 SHC decision ordering a retrial in the Shahzeb Khan murder case in a sessions court. It directed the high court to constitute a new bench to hear appeals filed by the petitioners. The apex court also restored terrorism charges framed against the accused – Shahrukh, Siraj and Sajjad – which had been removed by the SHC. The SC bench ruled that bails granted to the accused by the sessions court were against the law. Shortly after the verdict was announced, the accused was taken into custody by Islamabad and handed over to the Sindh Police. Their names were placed on ECL. INP/AJ[/timed-content-server]