IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
 
PRESENT: 
Mr. Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik 
Mr. Justice Sajjad Ali Shah 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
 
Criminal Petition No.1001-L of 2017,  
Jail Petition Nos.461 & 462 of 2017 
 (Against judgment dated 11.04.2017 passed by 
Lahore High Court Lahore in Cr. Appeal No.1130 of 
2016 &  CSR No.17-T of 2016) 
 
Haroon Bin Tariq 
(in Cr. P. No.1001-L/2017) 
 
Zulfiqar Ali alias Muhammad Ali & another  
(in J.P. No.461/2017) 
 
Mst. Raaj Sanam 
(in J.P. No.462/2017) 
  
 
 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
 
 
 
 
Versus 
 
The State & 2 others 
(in Cr. P. No.1001-L/2017) 
 
The State  
(in J.P. No.461 & 462 of 2017 ) 
 
…Respondent(s) 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
Ch. Akhtar Ali, AOR, 
 
(in Cr. P. No.1001-L/2017) 
 
Mr. Talat Mahmood Zaidi, ASC 
 
(in JP No.461 & 462/2017) 
 
 
 
 
 
  
For the State: 
Ch. Sarwar, 
 
Additional Prosecutor General Punjab 
  
 
 
Date of hearing: 
16.10.2019. 
 
JUDGMENT 
 
 
      Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J. A petty brawl 
graduated into a violent incident claiming two lives with equal 
number of injured, at 6.30 p.m. on 29.7.2013 within the precincts 
of Police Station B Division Gujrat. The incident is reported by one 
of the injured namely Haroon Bin Tariq, PW-9; complainant alleged 
that his family set up a makeshift garments stall for Eid in front of 
their house; on the fateful day, Zulfiqar Ali alias Muhammad Ali 
Criminal Petition No.1001-L of 2017,  
Jail Petition Nos.461 & 462 of 2017 
 
 
2
and Aamir Ali with their sister Raj Sanam and mother Yasmin Butt, 
each armed with .30 caliber pistols mounted the assault; Yasmin 
exhorted the co-accused to avenge insult of the preceding incident, 
occurred three days back and soon thereafter dealt a butt blow to 
Nasir, PW-10; Muhammad Saleem Shah, a police constable in 
uniform, going past per chance, attempted to hold Zulfiqar Ali 
accused who fired upon him in his head; Raj Sanam repeatedly 
targeted Babar followed by Aamir Ali with the fire shot on 
complainant’s left flank; firing in the air, the accused took to the 
heels. According to the complainant, Zulfiqar Ali alias Muhammad 
Ali and his brother Aamir had made obscene overtures to the 
female customers and for that they were admonished and it was in 
this backdrop that the accused avenged the insult.  Haider Ali was 
taken on board as an abettor to the crime; they were tried by the 
learned Special Judge Anti Terrorism Court-II at Gujranwala; 
Zulfiqar and Aamir Ali being juvenile were dealt with separately. 
Vide judgment dated 18.2.2016, Haider Ali, the alleged abettor was 
let off whereas remainders were returned a guilty verdict on all 
counts. The learned High Court vide impugned judgment dated 
11.4.2017, passed in separate appeals, acquitted Mst. Yasmin Butt 
from the charge; Aamir Ali was acquitted from the counts of 
terrorism as well as homicide of Muhammad Saleem Shah 
deceased; his conviction for murderous assault was maintained, 
however, with reduction in the sentence to 4-years RI; having 
served out, he has since been released; penalty of death awarded to 
Zulfiqar Ali alias Muhammad Ali as well as Mst. Raaj Sanam was 
reduced to imprisonment for life on all counts with concurrent 
commutation thereof; benefit of section 382-B Cr.P.C. inclusive; 
vires whereof are being assailed, by the convicts through Jail 
Petition Nos. 461 & 462 of 2017 whereas by the complainant vide 
Criminal Petition No.1001(L) of 2017; bound by a common thread, 
these are being decided through this single judgment.  
2.  
Learned counsel for the convicts has emphatically stressed 
upon the improbability of female participation in the occurrence; 
according to him, there was seemingly no occasion in the presence 
of male members of the family that Mst. Raaj Sanam, a youthful 
lady, would come forward to join the assault. The bottom line is 
that prosecution has cast a wider net to rope the entire clan; he has 
referred to the acquittal of Mst. Yasmin Butt to substantiate the 
Criminal Petition No.1001-L of 2017,  
Jail Petition Nos.461 & 462 of 2017 
 
 
3
point. None is in attendance to argue Criminal Petition No.1001-L 
of 2017 on complainant’s behalf, however, the learned Law Officer 
has faithfully defended the impugned judgment; he maintained that 
ocular account furnished by the witnesses that included the injured 
successfully drove home the charge with forensic support.  
3.  
Occurrence 
took 
place 
in 
Gujrat, 
a 
sizable 
city, 
nonetheless, integrated in the web of traditional social ethos. In this 
milieu, participation of two ladies, each armed with a lethal 
weapon, accompanying the male companions, no other than real 
brothers, equally participating in the assault, premeditated as 
alleged by the prosecution, is a circumstance that fails to inspire 
our confidence; it is prosecution’s own case that Zulfiqar Ali and 
Aamir Ali were armed with .30 caliber pistols and with these semi 
automatic weapons, they came all the way to the venue to settle the 
score. We do not expect that two real brothers would allow to join 
their mother and sister in an assignment, they could conveniently 
accomplish on their own. Conversely, we again find it hard to 
contemplate that a mother would set off her sons on a course that 
may possibly take them to the gallows, that too, for a trivial motive; 
she is already off the hook. Mst. Raaj Sanam is identically situated 
in the same contextual framework and as such her involvement in 
the crime cannot be viewed without suspicion. Jail Petition No.462 
of 2017 is converted into appeal and allowed; impugned judgment 
is set aside; she is acquitted from the charge and shall be released 
forthwith, if not required in any other case.  
 
 
Case of Zulfiqar Ali and Aamir Ali is distinctly structured; 
ocular account supported by forensic evidence is inescapably 
pointed upon their culpability in terms of roles individually 
assigned to them. Though Aamir Ali petitioner was taken out of 
community of intention by the High Court, his culpability in terms 
of role ascribed to him, has been believed by the Courts below; 
upon our independent analysis, we have not been able to take any 
legitimate exception to the conclusion drawn by the High Court. 
However, insofar as Zulfiqar Ali’s conviction under Section 7 of the 
Anti Terrorism Act 1997 is concerned, we have noticed that 
misfortune, unanticipatedly, brought Muhammad Saleem Shah 
deceased, clad in police uniform, in the line of fire; he was not 
intended target of the assailants nor deputed at the crime scene to 
perform any officially assigned task; there is no independent 
Criminal Petition No.1001-L of 2017,  
Jail Petition Nos.461 & 462 of 2017 
 
 
4
verification that he directed himself to the assailants in order to 
disengage or overpower them and in the process received fire shot 
during grappling from a close blank; on the contrary, medical 
evidence contradicts the prosecution case, as there is no blackening 
on the margins of solitary entry wound; possibility of a stray bullet 
cannot be viewed as entirely unrealistic, particularly in the 
presence of as many as 16 casings, secured from the spot, 
unambiguously suggesting volley of fires; though most unfortunate, 
nonetheless, his death does not additionally attract the mischief of 
Section 6(1)(n) of the Act ibid. Consequently, Zulfiqar Ali alias 
Muhammad Ali’s conviction and sentence under section 7 of the Act 
ibid is set aside. Jail Petition No.461 of 2017 to the extent of Aamir 
Ali is dismissed, however, qua Zulfiqar Ali convict, it is converted 
into appeal and partly allowed in the above terms. As  a  natural 
corollary, Cr. P. No.1001-L/2017 is dismissed.    
 
 
 
 
Judge 
 
 
Judge 
 
 
Judge 
Islamabad  
16th October, 2019 
Azmat/- 
 
