Barkat v. The State,
YLR 2012 191 · Balochistan High Court
This case is a criminal appeal before the Balochistan High Court by a man named Barkat, who was convicted of murdering his sister, Mst. Jamila, in what the case describes as an honour killing. The trial court had sentenced him to life imprisonment and ordered him to pay compensation to the victim's heirs. Barkat appealed, arguing the conviction was unjust and that the evidence against him was weak.
The prosecution's case relied heavily on a confession Barkat made before a magistrate, but there were problems: the confession was recorded six days after his arrest while he was in police custody, raising doubts about whether it was voluntary; the witnesses claiming to have seen the crime could not clearly establish they were actually present at the scene; and the complainant himself had not witnessed the killing. The court also noted the police investigation was poorly conducted.
Despite these weaknesses, the High Court upheld the conviction. It found that Barkat's own appeal letter, written from jail, actually supported and corroborated his earlier confession rather than contradicting it, and there was no evidence he had been coerced or mistreated. Because the confession appeared truthful and was backed by his own later statements, the court ruled the prosecution had sufficiently proven the case.
This judgment matters because it illustrates how courts evaluate confessions—especially delayed ones—and stresses that confessions need independent corroboration to be reliable, particularly in serious cases like honour killings.
یہ مقدمہ بلوچستان ہائی کورٹ کے سامنے ایک فوجداری اپیل ہے جو برکت نامی شخص کی جانب سے دائر کی گئی، جسے اپنی بہن مسماۃ جمیلہ کے قتل کے جرم میں سزا سنائی گئی تھی، جسے اس مقدمے میں غیرت کے نام پر قتل قرار دیا گیا ہے۔ ٹرائل کورٹ نے اسے عمر قید کی سزا سنائی تھی اور مقتولہ کے ورثاء کو معاوضہ ادا کرنے کا حکم بھی دیا تھا۔ برکت نے اس فیصلے کے خلاف اپیل دائر کی، یہ دلیل دیتے ہوئے کہ اس کی سزا ناانصافی پر مبنی ہے اور اس کے خلاف پیش کیے گئے شواہد کمزور ہیں۔
استغاثہ کا مقدمہ بڑی حد تک اس اقبالِ جرم پر منحصر تھا جو برکت نے ایک مجسٹریٹ کے سامنے کیا تھا، لیکن اس میں کئی خامیاں موجود تھیں: یہ اقبالِ جرم اس کی گرفتاری کے چھ دن بعد، جبکہ وہ پولیس کی تحویل میں تھا، ریکارڈ کیا گیا، جس سے یہ شبہ پیدا ہوتا ہے کہ آیا یہ اقبالِ جرم رضاکارانہ تھا ی