ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday that the death sentence serves as a deterrent in society, discouraging others from committing similar heinous offences.
A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, issued its judgement on an appeal against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) verdict in a murder case, delivered on June 21, 2023.
The appellant, Abdul Razzaq, had challenged the LHC judgement, which had upheld the trial court’s conviction for the rape and murder of a six-year-old minor girl, sentencing him to death as ‘Ta’azir’ (discretionary punishment).
After hearing the parties, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the death sentence awarded by the trial court and subsequently confirmed by the high court.
The trial court had sentenced the petitioner-convict to death under Sections 302(b), 364-A and 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which was later upheld by the LHC.
“If in such cases any lenient view is taken, then the peace, tranquillity,and harmony of society would be jeopardised, and vandalism would prevail,” stated the 13-page judgement authored by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim.
The court noted that the petitioner-convict’s actions—kidnapping a 5/6-year-old minor girl in daylight from an open bazaar, committing rape and sodomy inside his house, murdering her, placing her dead body in a sack, and discarding it—are acts of such brutality and gruesomeness that any leniency would effectively reward such offenders and pose a grave threat to society.
“No doubt, the accused is the favourite child of law, but at the same time, the court owes a duty to society and the legal heirs of the victim,” the judgement read, adding that the sentence awarded should act as a deterrent to the commission of such offences.
“Conceptually, a sentence is awarded on the principles of retribution, deterrence, or reformation,” the court ruled.
The court held that the purpose behind awarding a sentence is twofold: firstly, to create an atmosphere that deters individuals inclined toward crime, and secondly, to serve as a means of reforming the offender.
“Deterrent punishment is not only to maintain balance with the gravity of the wrong committed by a person but also to set an example for others as a preventive measure for the reformation of society,” the judgement states.
The court noted that the concept of minor punishment in law is intended to reform an individual wrongdoer. However, it held that in the present case—where the petitioner-convict abducted a minor girl, committed rape and sodomy, and then murdered her—no leniency should be shown.
The court noted that the post-mortem report revealed the child died due to suffocation, adding that medical examination confirmed rape and sexual assault of the innocent child.
According to the judgement, the Punjab Forensic Science Agency conducted DNA testing on samples taken from the child’s nails and clothes, and the forensic report confirmed that all DNA samples matched the convict, Abdul Razzaq.
The court also noted that during the investigation, the motorcycle used in the crime and the child’s slippers were recovered based on the accused’s identification.
Six-year-old Fiza Noor was abducted from Faisalabad on July 2, 2018, after she had gone out to buy groceries. Her body was found the same night at 8 pm in a sack within the jurisdiction of Raza Abad police station.
The accused, Abdul Razzaq, was arrested the next day at Lahore airport while attempting to flee abroad. According to the judgement, it came on record that after he was named as an accused by the informant in a supplementary statement, his name was placed on the Exit Control List. The petitioner was thereafter taken into custody and handed over to Imran Haider, Inspector (PW-15), the Investigating Officer in the case.
