Nauman Butt vs State Ss — 2025 YLR 1301 SUPREME-COURT-AZAD-KASHMIR

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Nauman Butt VS State Ss. 341, 342 & 377---Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Act (X of 1985), S. 12---Wrongful restraint, wrongful confinement, unnatural offence, kidnapping or abducting in order to subject person to unnatural lust---Appreciation of evidence---Abduction not proved---Accused were charged for committing unnatural offence with the complainant after abducting him---During cross-examination, the Investigating Officer conceded that further investigation did not substantiate the abduction charge---Said admission by the investigating Officer raised significant doubts on the credibility of the abduction charge---According to the narrative presented in the FIR, the convict, purportedly followed the victim and the other convicts on a motorcycle---However, the investigation revealed discrepancies in that account---Specifically, evidence indicated that accused "AD" was not present at the scene but was allegedly called by accused "NB" after the victim had been brought to the site of the occurrence---Such inconsistency raised questions about the sequence of events---Moreover, the victim, during his testimony in Court, explicitly stated that he did not see accused "AD" at the crime scene, further casting doubt on the prosecution's claim regarding his presence and involvement in the abduction---Adding to the uncertainty, no recovery of a motorcycle was made from accused "AD" which undermined the credibility of the claim that he followed the victim on a motorcycle---Such gap in the prosecution's case created reasonable doubt about the abduction aspect of the incident---Circumstances established that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused persons, however, due to mitigating circumstances, conviction of accused "AD" and "AB" was upheld, however, their punishment was reduced to the sentence they had already undergone---Conviction of accused "NB" was upheld, however the sentences of life imprisonment imposed under S.12 of the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Act, 1985, was reduced to imprisonment of ten years---Under S.377 A.P.C, life imprisonment was reduced to imprisonment for ten years---Appeal was partly accepted with modification in sentence.

Nauman Butt vs State Ss — 2025 YLR 1301 SUPREME-COURT-AZAD-KASHMIR

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