IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
Present:  
MR. JUSTICE MAZHAR ALAM KHAN MIANKHEL  
MR. JUSTICE QAZI MUHAMMAD AMIN AHMED 
 
Criminal Petition No.46-P of 2015 
 
 
Iftikhar Ali 
 
…Petitioner  
Versus 
 
Gul Rehman and another  
..Respondent  
     
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
Mr. Altaf Khan, ASC 
  
 
For the Respondent(s): Mr. Muhammad Nisar,  
 
 
 
 
Addl. A.G. K.P. 
 
Date of hearing: 
 
12.7.2021 
 
ORDER  
 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J-. Fazal Ilahi, 48, in the 
backdrop of a dispute over immovable property was shot dead at 8:00 p.m. 
on 1.1.2012 within the precincts of Police Station Zaida District Swabi; the 
incident was reported by his brother Iftikhar who singularly blamed Gul 
Rehman respondent for the crime; convicted by a learned Additional 
Sessions Judge at Swabi under clause (b) of Section 302 of the Pakistan 
Penal Code, 1860, he was sentenced to imprisonment for life vide judgment 
dated 16.7.2012, however, acquitted from the charge by a Division Bench of 
Peshawar High Court vide impugned judgment dated 18.02.2015, vires 
whereof, are being assailed on the ground that in the face of overwhelming 
evidence primarily comprising ocular account by natural witnesses, there 
was no occasion for the High Court on prosecution’s alleged failure on 
peripheral issues, an error that, according to the learned counsel for the 
petitioner, results into miscarriage of justice.  
2. 
 
We have gone through the impugned reasoning recorded by 
the High Court to overturn the conviction and found it to have been swayed 
primarily by a plea of alibi supported by the prayer leader of the village 
mosque who, however, opted to stay away from the witness-box alongside 
the respondent himself. Similarly, certain discrepancies in the site plan 
were viewed to prosecution’s detriment without having been confronted to 
the witnesses during the trial. Unscathed survival of the witnesses was also 
 
2
received with suspicion by the High Court. Generality of the above 
observations, notwithstanding, nonetheless, the High Court does not 
appear to have taken any exception to the ocular account furnished by the 
witnesses of locality in a small rural neighborhood, unanimously pointing 
their finger upon the respondent. We consider it expedient to grant leave to 
reappraise entire evidence with a view to secure the ends of justice. Send 
for Gul Rehman respondent through bailable warrant in the sum of 
Rs.200,000/- with one surety in the like amount, returnable to the 
Assistant Registrar of this Court at Peshawar, executable through Station 
House Officer concerned within a fortnight.  
 
 
 
Judge  
 
 
 
Judge  
Peshawar,  
12th July, 2021 
Azmat/- 
‘Not approved for reporting’  
