Conviction in absentia by Anti Terrorism Court
PLJ 2015 · Sindh High Court
This case involved a man named Khanzado, who was tried in absentia (in his absence, since he was declared an absconder) by an Anti-Terrorism Court in Jacobabad. He had been accused, along with others, of kidnapping a six-year-old boy for ransom, under charges including Section 365-A of the Pakistan Penal Code and anti-terrorism laws. At the end of the trial, all accused, including Khanzado, were acquitted of the main kidnapping-related charges due to lack of evidence. However, the trial court separately convicted Khanzado under Section 21-L of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, which deals with absconding from trial, sentencing him to five years in prison and ordering forfeiture of his property.
Khanzado appealed to the Sindh High Court, arguing that this conviction was unlawful since he was never even formally charged with the Section 21-L offence, no evidence was presented on it, and he was punished without a hearing. The government's lawyer agreed with this argument.
The High Court found serious legal flaws: no charge had been framed for Section 21-L, no evidence was recorded on it, and the trial court gave no reasoning before convicting him. This violated his constitutional rights to be heard and treated fairly under Articles 9 and 10(1) of the Constitution. Since he had already been acquitted of the main charges, the court set aside his conviction entirely, ruling that a retrial was unnecessary.
یہ مقدمہ خانزادہ نامی ایک شخص سے متعلق ہے جس پر جیکب آباد کی انسداد دہشت گردی عدالت میں مفرور قرار دیے جانے کے باعث اس کی عدم موجودگی میں مقدمہ چلایا گیا۔ اس پر دیگر ملزمان کے ساتھ مل کر ایک چھ سالہ بچے کو تاوان کے لیے اغوا کرنے کا الزام تھا، جس میں پاکستان پینل کوڈ کی دفعہ 365-اے اور انسداد دہشت گردی کے قوانین کے تحت الزامات شامل تھے۔ مقدمے کے اختتام پر، شواہد کی کمی کی بنا پر خانزادہ سمیت تمام ملزمان کو اغوا سے متعلق بنیادی الزامات سے بری کر دیا گیا۔ تاہم، ٹرائل کورٹ نے الگ سے خانزادہ کو انسداد دہشت گردی ایکٹ 1997 کی دفعہ 21-ایل کے تحت، جو مقدمے کی سماعت سے فرار ہونے سے متعلق ہے، مجرم قرار دیتے ہوئے پانچ سال قید کی سزا سنائی اور اس کی جائیداد ضبط کرنے کا حکم دیا۔
خانزادہ نے سندھ ہائی کورٹ میں اپیل دائر کی اور موقف اختیار کیا کہ یہ سزا غیر قانونی ہے کیونکہ اس پر دفعہ 21-ایل