Islamabad: The Punjab government has filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court (LHC) against the acquittal of Mohammed Waseem, the sole convict in the murder of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch in July 2016. He is her brother.
On February 14, 2022 the LHC’s Multan bench had abolished the life imprisonment of the convict, setting aside the trial court’s 2019 decision under Section 311 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
The court pardoned Waseem, 38, after the witnesses deviated from their statements in the trial court and upon submission of Qandeel’s mother that both of them (the convicts’ parents) had forgiven him.
Miscarriage of justice
The Punjab prosecution department on Saturday filed a state appeal before the Supreme Court’s registry in Lahore, challenging the acquittal.
In the appeal, Additional Prosecutor General Khurram Khan has based his arguments on the grounds that the LHC while acquitting the sole convict did not consider the facts of the case and acquittal of the convict in the case is a miscarriage of justice.
The Supreme Court is likely to take up in the coming days the appeal that argues that the confessional statement of the convict under Section 164 Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) was quite convincing, but the LHC discarded it on the basis of mere technicalities and assumptions.
It states that the observations made by the court in its judgment with respect to the confession are against the law of the land and not sustainable in the eye of law.
Apex court can set important precedent
Parliamentary Secretary for Law Maleeka Bokhari on Thursday tweeted that the state would file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the acquittal in the Qandeel Baloch murder case.
Maleeka had stated that the apex court had the opportunity to set an important “precedent in cases of such brutal murder”.
She further maintained that the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) government led by Prime Minister Imran Khan continued to stand for the protection of the rights of women and girls.
Brief history of case
Waseem was accused of killing his sister Qandeel Baloch by strangulating her in the name of honour. He was arrested in July 2016 and awarded life imprisonment on September 27, 2019, by a court in Multan.
At a news conference in 2016, Waseem admitted that he strangled his 26-year-old sister due to her social media activities. He had brazenly said that he had no remorse for killing her.
After six years, Waseem was freed on a legal technicality that allows a victim’s mother to pardon the crime.
