The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the judge of anti-terrorism court Faisalabad to lodge a complaint against Punjab Police Qaumi Razakar Muhammad Arshad over giving false testimony in a murder case.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, while hearing an appeal against the death sentence on February 6 observed that a person had been in the jail for the last seven years due to the false evidence of a Punjab volunteer force.
The bench in the last hearing had acquitted the accused but summoned Razakar Muhammad Arshad for deposing falsely. In pursuant of the court order Arshad appeared before the apex court and tried to convince the bench that the statement in the trial court was true and he had not indulged into falsehood.
Justice Khosa noted that details of the case present different story, which appears that Muhammad Arshad had deposed falsely during the trail in a criminal case of Zaheer's death sentence.
The court noted that Muhammad Arshad has ostensibly committed perjury under section 194 of Pakistan Penal Code. The bench, therefore, referred the matter to the judge of ATC Faisalabad to lodge a complaint in this regard against Arshad before the sessions judge of Faisalabad so that he could be dealt with in accordance with the law.
The Chief Justice expressed surprise and displeasure at the trial court's decision to award death penalty to the accused based on false testimony and high court's judgement overruling capital punishment and converting it into life imprisonment. "All other witnesses maintained that they did not see him firing the weapon. How did the lower and high court miss these facts?" asked CJP Khosa.
Justice Khosa noted that the witness misreported a mild wound for an arm injury caused by the gunshot. "The way he [Arshad] volunteered to become a witness, he should also voluntarily be imprisoned," he said.