The Supreme Court of Pakistan has acquitted a man convicted in a kidnapping-for-ransom case, setting aside his life sentence after finding serious doubts in the prosecution’s evidence.
A seven-page judgment authored by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim allowed Abdul Razzaq’s appeal against his conviction.
The court gave him the benefit of the doubt, a legal principle under which an accused must be acquitted when the prosecution fails to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
The court noted that a land dispute was already going on between the parties involved in the case.
It also observed that no one, including the complainant, had witnessed the alleged kidnapping.
The judges further questioned the recovery of Rs300,000 allegedly linked to the ransom.
According to the judgment, the recovery was doubtful and the money produced as ransom had no identifying marks or other features establishing that it was the same amount involved in the alleged offence.
The case dates back to 2014, when a kidnapping-for-ransom case was registered in Narowal against four accused persons.
A trial court had convicted all four men and sentenced them to life imprisonment.
It also ordered the confiscation of their properties.
The Lahore High Court later acquitted three of the accused but upheld Abdul Razzaq’s life sentence.
The Supreme Court, however, found that the evidence against Razzaq did not meet the required legal standard for conviction. It therefore overturned the remaining life sentence and acquitted him.
The judgment also highlighted the absence of direct eyewitness testimony to the alleged abduction and the weakness surrounding the alleged ransom recovery as factors contributing to reasonable doubt.
The ruling brings to an end Razzaq’s 12-year legal battle over the kidnapping-for-ransom case.
