Khalid Mehmood vs State Ss — 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

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Khalid Mehmood VS State Ss. 302(a), 324 & 337-F(iv)---Qatl-i-amd, attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, ghayr-jaifah-mudihah---Appreciation of evidence---Natural witnesses---Presence of the witnesses at the time and place of occurrence proved---Accused was charged for committing murder of three ladies of the complainant party by firing and also causing firearm injuries to the fourth lady---Ocular account of the incident had been furnished by complainant, injured lady and her husband---Admittedly, injured lady and her husband had abode in the same house wherein the bloodbath took place---Since the incident occurred before dawn, hence the presence of injured lady and her husband at the eventful time was unquestionable---Even the defence had not brought anything on record which might persuade to infer the absence of the said two witnesses from the crime scene---Presence of an inhabitant of the house, wherein someone is assassinated, is generally accepted unless such claim of presence is dislodged by the defence through some convincing material---Complainant was residing in a separate house along with his slain wife but even he justified the claimed presence at the spot through cogent explanation---House within the four walls of which three ladies were assassinated, was situated in a locality and complainant was living in the same vicinity---On the preceding night, complainant along with his wife/deceased went to the house of eye-witness to attend to his mother-in-law, who was a paralysis patient---Foregoing explanation put forth by complainant apparently inspired confidence when seen in the context that his wife/deceased also spent night in the same house---Deceased-ladies, eye-witnesses and the accused were closely related to each other---In the given circumstances, there was not even a remote possibility of mistaken identification of the sole perpetrator of crime---Neither anything was discerning from record nor pleaded so as to hold that the two sides were inimical towards each other or were locked in some affair of abhorrence---Record reflected that no untoward incident, even of lighter magnitude, ever took place between the two sides in the past, what to talk of enmity between the parties---It spelled out from record that a witness, husband of a deceased lady, even helped accused to effect a compromise with the legal heirs of the deceased in a murder case registered against him in the year 2008---Unambiguously, in the given circumstances, it could be held that the eye-witnesses had no personal vendetta or score to settle with the accused, thus by no stretch it could be termed as partisan---Though four ladies endured serious firearm injuries during the incident and three out of them lost their lives but still the eye-witnesses solely held accused responsible for the crime---Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances. Citation Name: 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE Khalid Mehmood VS State Ss. 302(a), 324 & 337-F(iv)---Qatl-i-amd, attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, ghayr-jaifah-mudihah---Appreciation of evidence---Night time occurrence---Source of light, proved---Accused was charged for committing murder of three ladies of the complainant party by firing and also causing firearm injuries to the fourth lady---Homicide incident occurred in the early hours of the morning and there was semi-darkness all around---Though it was vociferously alleged by defence that due to scarcity of light, margin of mistaken identification could legitimately be extended to the accused but such version ran contrary to record---Such version so advanced by defence stood exposed from the scaled site plan wherein the presence of electricity bulb at the spot was highlighted---Statements of eye-witnesses unfolded that the accused assassinated the ladies in a residential room of a small house and both sides were at close distance from each other while having long standing acquaintance---Presence of light at the spot and the close distance between the two sides left no room for discussion that the point mentioned above raised by the defence had no legs to stand---Even the analysis of record with utmost circumspection revealed that narrators of ocular account remained resolute not only in respect of the mode and manner in which the crime was committed but also about the post occurrence events---Eye-witnesses budged not a single inch from their stance of having witnessed the occurrence and in holding the accused as the sole person responsible for committing the crime---Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances. Citation Name: 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE Khalid Mehmood VS State Ss. 302(a), 324 & 337-F(iv)---Qatl-i-amd, attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, ghayr-jaifah-mudihah---Appreciation of evidence---Statement of injured witness---Reliance---Accused was charged for committing murder of three ladies of the complainant party by firing and also causing firearm injuries to the fourth lady---Injured witness entered the dock with the claim of having received a grievous firearm injury at her thorax region---For that trauma, injured witness was examined by Medical Officer through Medico-Legal Certificate, the genuineness of which was never challenged by the defence either during investigation or at trial---In the given circumstances, it would not be an overstatement to term the injuries of injured as stamp of her presence at the spot---In the given scenario, the question of predominant importance emerged that why injured witness would have resorted to the tool of substitution for letting go scot-free the actual offender who assassinated three of her close relatives, more importantly when she had no personal axe to grind with the accused---Persuading the Court for discarding the testimony of an injured witness of homicide incident inexorably was an insurmountable hurdle to cross for the culprit and this rule became more inflexible when the deposition of such a witness had no legal flaw or infirmity---Statement of such an injured eye-witness could safely be relied upon for handing down guilty verdict to the culprit of a murder incident---Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances. Citation Name: 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE Khalid Mehmood VS State Ss. 302(a), 324 & 337-F(iv)---Qatl-i-amd, attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, ghayr-jaifah-mudihah---Appreciation of evidence---Sentence, quantum of---Accused was charged for committing murder of three ladies of the complainant party by firing and also causing firearm injuries to the fourth lady---Present case inescapably was of ferocious killing and the accused targeted four innocent ladies, out of whom three died at the spot---Neither defence pleaded any exception contemplated in Chapter IV of P.P.C nor any other extenuating circumstances like human frailty, morbid jealousy or loss of tamper owing to reasons attributable to the victims---Conversely, the record spoke that the accused even previously was sentenced to death in another murder case but earned acquittal on the basis of compromise---Moreover, it could be deciphered from the antecedents of the accused as well as from the genesis of the crime that he had least respect for human lives, thus deserved no mercy---Extending mercy to the accused by having resort to lesser sentence would amount to giving him another opportunity of letting loose on the lives of some innocent persons somewhere in the future---Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances. Citation Name: 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE Khalid Mehmood VS State Ss. 302(a), 324 & 337-F(iv)---Qatl-i-amd, attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, ghayr-jaifah-mudihah---Appreciation of evidence---Motive proved---Accused was charged for committing murder of three ladies of the complainant party by firing and also causing firearm injuries to the fourth lady---Motive behind the occurrence was stated to be the annoyance of accused which he nourished from the proposed marriage of daughter of one of the deceased lady with someone else---Accused got irked for no good reason when daughter of one of the deceased ladies was engaged with another person---Accused expressed his annoyance for the proposed matrimonial bond of daughter of one of the deceased ladies and later transformed it into aggression which he unleashed on the fateful day---Canvassed motive was proved through the depositions of three eye-witnesses and another witness---Factum of previous conviction in a murder case and the driving force behind the commission of instant occurrence were put to accused during his examination under S.342 Cr.P.C, and their truth was accepted by him through an answer in affirmative---Motive could safely be held to have been proved during trial---Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances. Citation Name: 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE Khalid Mehmood VS State S. 342---Examination of accused---Scope---If an accused, facing trial is not confronted with incriminating circumstances, no conviction can be awarded on the basis thereof. Citation Name: 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE Khalid Mehmood VS State Ss. 302(a), 324 & 337-F(iv)---Qatl-i-amd, attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, ghayr-jaifah-mudihah---Appreciation of evidence---Medical evidence supporting the prosecution case---Accused was charged for committing murder of three ladies of the complainant party by firing and also causing firearm injuries to the fourth lady---Medical evidence showed that one deceased lady received two firearm injuries, other deceased lady suffered one firearm trauma over her skull, whereas another deceased lady endured a bullet injury at the occipital region---Almost all the entry wounds of the three deceased-ladies had blackening around their margins---As regards injured witness, initially she was taken to CMH Hospital and later was examined in THQ Hospital by Medical Officer through Medico-Legal Certificate who observed a firearm entry wound slightly below hypochondrium with a corresponding exit wound on the clavicle---Nature of injuries coincided with the weapon statedly the accused used during the incident and the duration between death and postmortem was also found to be in consonance with the time of occurrence described by the eye-witnesses---Even after having minutely examined the medical evidence, it did not have an iota of legal infirmity---Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances. Citation Name: 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE Khalid Mehmood VS State Ss. 302(a), 324 & 337-F(iv)---Qanun-e-Shahadat (10 of 1984), Art.40---Qatl-i-amd, attempt to commit qatl-i-amd, ghayr-jaifah-mudihah---Appreciation of evidence---Weapon of offence recovered on the pointation of accused---Reliance---Accused was charged for committing murder of three ladies of the complainant party by firing and also causing firearm injuries to the fourth lady---Arrest of the accused was effected on 01.06.2018 and 07-days thereafter he got recovered a pistol from his house which was secured through a memo---Pistol was dispatched to Forensic Science Agency through ASI/witness---During spot inspection SI/witness collected five crime empties of .30 bore caliber which were transmitted to Forensic Science Agency on 29.05.2018---According to the Forensic Science Agency Report, all the five crime empties were found wedded with the pistol recovered from the accused---Even the recovery of pistol was impeccably proved by the prosecution through confidence inspiring depositions of two witnesses---All the three witnesses testified the recovery proceedings without any conflict or contradiction by stating that the weapon was recovered in pursuance of disclosure and pointing out of the accused---Place of recovery was a house which was in the exclusive possession of the accused having sole knowledge of the exact place where the pistol was kept---Recovery of pistol which subsequently matched with the crime empties could inexorably be taken as discovery of a new fact which in terms of Art. 40 of Qanun-e-Shahadat O. 1984, was admissible---Appeal against conviction was dismissed, in circumstances.

Khalid Mehmood vs State Ss — 2024 PCrLJ 1212 LAHORE-HIGH-COURT-LAHORE

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