Muhammad Siddique Freed After Life Sentence Overturned by SC

The Supreme Court acquitted Muhammad Siddique, who was serving a life sentence for murder.

The Supreme Court has declared the decision of the Lahore High Court Rawalpindi bench null and void and ordered the immediate release of Muhammad Siddique. The court said that the decisions of the trial court and the High Court were based on incorrect assessments of evidence. The Supreme Court dismissed the petition filed for enhancement of sentence as ineffective.

The Supreme Court said in its decision that the prosecution’s case is full of doubts, the presence of alleged eyewitnesses at the scene is questionable, there are contradictions and unnatural aspects in the statements of the witnesses, and the delay in registering the FIR is detrimental to the prosecution.

The court said that the unexplained delay in the post-mortem also further weakened the prosecution’s case.

The prosecution failed to prove the motive for the murder. Exhumed and forensic evidence is not effective without direct, unreliable testimony.

A mere reasonable doubt is enough to give the accused the benefit of the doubt. Giving the benefit of the doubt is not a concession but a legal right of the accused.

It should be noted that the trial court had sentenced Muhammad Siddique to death and a fine of five hundred thousand rupees under Section 302 (b). The Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench had commuted the death sentence to life imprisonment.