IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandial, CJ 
Mr. Justice Munib Akhtar 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
 
Criminal Petition No.1596 of 2021 
(Against the order dated 30.6.2021 passed by the High Court of 
Balochistan in Cr. A. No.175-2014) 
 
 
Shams ul Islam Khan 
 
 
 
…..Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
 
Azhar Ahmed Khan and another  
…Respondent(s) 
 
For the Petitioner(s):               Mr. Naeem Bokhari, ASC 
 
 
    
 
 
For the State:             
Syed Pervaiz Bokhari, Addl. P.G. 
Balochitan 
 
For Respondent No.1:             In person. 
 
Date of Hearing          
07.02.2022. 
 
ORDER 
 
 
        Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- The petitioner is 
in receipt of a guilty verdict returned by the learned Addl. 
Sessions Judge-IV Quetta in a complaint instituted by Azhar 
Ahmed Khan, no other than his paternal nephew; he alongside 
his brother Saif-ul-Islam Khan, since dead, was indicted for 
depriving female legatees from their shares in the legacy. 
Convicted under sections 466, 467, 474 and 498-A read with 
section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1860, they were to periods 
of imprisonments ranging from 5 to 10 years with direction to pay 
fine; sentences to be commuted concurrently, pre-trial period 
inclusive, vide judgment dated 20.6.2014. The High Court of 
Balochistan reduced quantum of sentence under section 498-A to 
5-years whereas on the remainder counts, to 1-year, vide 
judgment dated 30.6.2021, leave to appeal wherefrom has been 
prayed for on the grounds that there was no occasion for the High 
Court to decline petitioner’s appeal inasmuch as the prosecution 
had failed to come up with “proof beyond doubt” before the 
learned trial Court; it is next argued that the fate of indictment is 
Cr.P. 1596/2021.  
decisively linked with the outcome of civil litigation still raging 
between the parties. It is lastly argued that both the Court 
escaped notice of Criminal Law (Third Amendment) Act 2011 that 
inserted Chapter XX-A in the Pakistan Penal Code incorporating 
section 498-A w.e.f. the 28th of December, 2011, and, thus, the 
petitioner, according to prosecution’s own case, has been 
convicted in violation of Constitutional protection against 
retrospective punishment. Contentions raised need consideration. 
Leave is granted. Notice shall issue to the State.  
  
 
Chief Justice 
 
 
Judge 
 
 
Judge 
Islamabad, the 
7th February, 2022 
Azmat/- 
