IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
 
Jail Petition No.40 of 2017 
(Against the judgment dated 27.05.2014 
passed 
by 
the 
Lahore 
High 
Court 
Bahawalpur Bench in Criminal Appeal 
No.97-J of 2010 with M.R. No.8 of 2010) 
 
 
Gulshan Shah 
 
 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
 
 
The State 
…Respondent(s) 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
Mr. Muhammad Tayyab Wattoo, ASC 
 
 
For the State: 
Mirza Abid Majeed,  
 
Deputy Prosecutor General Punjab 
 
Date of hearing: 
30.11.2020. 
JUDGMENT 
 
 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- Safdar Shah, 30 and 
his brother Iqbal Shah, 35, were done to death at 8:00 a.m. on 
15.4.2003 within the precincts of Police Station Qaim Pur of District 
Bahawalpur. The petitioner and his brother Zia Shah (since P.O.), no 
other than their paternal nephews, along with their father, were 
arrayed as accused in the crime report lodged by deceased’s brother 
Ayyaz Hussain Shah (PW-1) at 11:00 a.m.  
 
According to the complainant, his father had forsaken his son 
Ashiq Shah for being disobedient and, thus, also withheld his share in 
the property and in this backdrop, his sons assaulted the deceased 
with an hatchet and club on the fateful day.  
 
The accused absconded after the occurrence, Zia Shah, being still 
away from law till date, however, the petitioner was arrested on 
24.1.2006 to contest indictment that resulted into his conviction vide 
judgment dated 25.02.2010; convicted on two counts under clause (b) 
of Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, he was sentenced to 
death and imprisonment for life respectively; the High Court 
maintained the conviction, however, altered penalty of death into 
imprisonment for life vide impugned judgment dated 27.05.2014,  
pre-trial period inclusive, vires whereof, are being assailed through 
captioned jail petition, argued by Mr. Muhammad Tayyab Watto, ASC;  
he contends that in a divided family, fraught with animosity, the courts 
erred in placing implicit reliance on the testimony of witnesses, 
Jail Petition No. 40 of 2017 
2
manifestly interested without proper corroboration; that there is 
nothing on the record to demonstrate that Muhammad Shah had ever 
ostracized his son Ashiq Shah so as to deprive him of his share in the 
legacy; that acquittal of Ashiq Shah raised the entire edifice of the 
prosecution to the ground, leaving no space to sustain the conviction. 
Learned Law Officer has faithfully defended the impugned judgment by 
arguing that division in the family notwithstanding, the case is firmly 
structured upon ocular account furnished by the natural witnesses 
with no earthly reason to swap or substitute the actual offenders; he 
has further elaborated that the admitted division in the household, 
in fact, served as a strong motive that appears to have prompted the 
petitioner and his co-accused to take on the deceased in their prime 
youth and in a manner most brute and callous.  
2. 
 
Heard. Record perused. 
3. 
 
Acquittal of Ashiq Shah, assigned no role whatsoever, does 
not cast its shadows to possibly space an exit to the petitioner who 
armed with hatchet (P-1) fatally stabbed Iqbal Shah, a circumstance 
that convincingly conjoins medical evidence with ocular account 
furnished by witnesses, no less than three in number, unanimously 
pointing their finger upon the petitioner; the testimony does not suffer 
from any serious infirmity or flaw reflecting upon credibility of the 
deponents. The cross-examination has further highlighted the cleavage 
in the family and, thus, seemingly there was no occasion for the High 
Court to even discard the motive in order to mould the sentence of 
death into imprisonment for life, disregarding the magnitude of 
violence suffered by the deceased, however, a fait acompli too late in 
the day to be revisited in the absence of any motion by the complainant 
or the State. Petitioner’s long absence from law is yet another aspect 
that intriguingly reflects upon the hypothesis of his innocence. The 
courts below have rightly relied upon the prosecution evidence to 
return and uphold a guilty verdict that calls for no interference. 
However, given the role assigned to the petitioner qua Iqbal Shah 
deceased alone, sentences awarded to the petitioner shall run 
concurrently with the benefit already extended. Petition fails. Leave 
declined.  
 
Judge 
  
 
Judge 
Islamabad, the 
30th November, 2020 
Not approved for reporting 
Azmat/-