IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
 
PRESENT:  
Mr. Justice Manzoor Ahmad Malik 
Mr. Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
Criminal Appeal No.122-L of 2017  
(On appeal from the judgment dated 
10.02.2015 passed by the Lahore High 
Court, Lahore in Criminal Appeal No.365-J 
of 2012 and CSR No.27-T of 2012). 
 
Iftikhar Ahmad 
…Appellant(s) 
 
VERSUS 
The State  
…Respondent(s) 
 
 
For the Appellant(s) 
: Ch. Nisar Ahmed Kausar, ASC 
 
 
 
For the Complainant 
: Mr. Muhammad Ozair Chughtai, 
ASC/AoR 
 
 
 
For the State 
: Mr. Mazhar Sher Awan,  
Additional Prosecutor General, 
Punjab with Furqan, S.I. 
 
 
 
Date of Hearing 
: 16.05.2019 
 
JUDGMENT 
 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- Bisma Murad, 11, 
left home on 21.11.2011 to attend school; she did not return at the 
expected time whereupon her father, Murad Ali, PW-13 went to the 
school; he was informed that the girl did not turn up; a day passed 
by in search and finally the incident was reported at Police Station 
Nawan Kot, Lahore on 22.11.2011; after receipt of calls from two 
different cell phone numbers whereby the unknown caller 
demanded ransom of Rs.50,000. The complainant alongside 
Shahzad, PW went to the designated place with the amount once 
again and dropped it inside the corner of a steel fence; the caller 
directed them towards main road Sabza Zar to receive the 
abductee, however, to their dismay none were there. A dead body 
was spotted at about noon time identified by the complainant as 
that of his missing daughter Bisma Murad. According to the 
autopsy report, she was strangulated to death; hymen was found 
freshly ruptured with tears on anal opening; swabs bore seminal 
Criminal Appeal No.122-L of 2017. 
 
 
 
 
 
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traces without DNA identification. Trial before learned Special 
Judge, Anti Terrorism Court No.II culminated into appellant’s 
conviction under Sections 302(b), 365-A of the Pakistan Penal 
Code, 1860 read with Section 7 (e) of Anti Terrorism Act, 1997. The 
learned High Court maintained the convictions.   
 
As the investigation progressed, Iftikhar Rasool, Inspector, 
PW-17, with the help of cell phone data, tracked through IMEI 
number, arrested the appellant on 25.11.2011; upon his personal 
search, a cell phone hand set, P-8 with a sim (Subscriber Identity 
Module) bearing No.0308-4262290, P-9 with cash Rs.10,000 were 
recovered. The accused was lodged in judicial lockup with muffled 
face. He was presented before Muhammad Iqbal and Muhammad 
Ramzan, PWs, witnesses of last seen on 3.12.2011; they correctly 
identified him during the test identification parade; later, while 
taking the girl on motorbike and former, throwing a bag in the plot 
wherefrom the dead body was recovered. The appellant was 
remitted to police custody; pursuant to a disclosure he led to the 
recovery of various incriminatory articles that included a part of 
ransom amount; most importantly last belongings of the deceased.  
Learned trial Judge returned a guilty verdict; he stood convicted 
and sentenced as referred to above vide judgment dated 8.10.2012; 
his appeal before a learned division bench of Lahore High Court 
met with no better fate vide impugned judgment dated 10.2.2015.  
 
2. 
 
Prosecution’s case is primarily structured upon the 
statement of Muhammad Ramzan, PW; he is complainant’s 
nephew and claims to have last seen the girl in appellant’s 
company on 21.11.2011; he shared information with the 
complainant on the following day and it was on this disclosure that 
the appellant was framed as suspect. This piece of evidence is 
further corroborated with the statement of Muhammad Iqbal, PW-
11 who saw the appellant dumping the corpse; both of them 
correctly identified the appellant under magisterial supervision, a 
process substantially flawless. Defence has not been able to 
impeach credibility of these witnesses; they have no axe to grind. 
Evidence of the last seen is well within the remit of proximity of 
Criminal Appeal No.122-L of 2017. 
 
 
 
 
 
3 
 
time and space. Recovery of articles constitutes an another strong 
link particularly last belongings including school bag as well as 
stationery items. Recovery of sim (Subscriber Identity Module) P-9 
and generation of calls therefrom, received by the complainant, 
confirmed by cell phone data presents a formidable piece of 
evidence, based upon an automated system, immune from foreign 
interference. 
Investigative 
process 
and 
conclusion 
thereof 
inexorably 
points 
towards 
the 
appellant’s 
culpability. 
Circumstances though few, nonetheless, are well synchronized, 
excluding every hypothesis of appellant’s innocence. He has rightly 
been convicted by the learned Courts below, therefore, his appeal 
must fail. Prosecution’s failure of DNA profile generation of rectal 
and vaginal swabs is a most grievous lapse that in retrospect 
makes out a case to visit the appellant with alternate penalty of 
imprisonment for life, therefore death penalty on all counts is 
altered to imprisonment for life on each; amounts of fine and 
compensation are kept intact. Sentences shall run concurrently 
with benefit of Section 382-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure. 
With the above modification, Criminal Appeal 122-L/2017 is 
allowed.  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
Lahore, the 
16th of May, 2019 
Ghulam Raza/* 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
