Shahzeb Khan murder: SC dismisses review petition filed by accused Shahrukh Jatoi

ISLAMABAD: A review petition filed by Sharukh Jatoi, convicted of Shahzeb Khan's murder, was dismissed by the Supreme Court on Monday. 

The Supreme Court had been moved by members of the civil society against the Sindh High Court's (SHC) decision ordering a re-trial and removal of terrorism charges from the conviction of the accused. The apex court, instead of accepting the civil society appeal, took a sou motu action and nullified the SHC order. 

Justice Asif Saeed Khosa noted that the high court cannot overturn the Supreme Court's verdict. He suggested that the defendant's lawyer, Latif Khosa, present his arguments on the case's merit in the high court.

He further stated that any verdict, not in compliance with the law, can be overturned by the apex court. 

Latif Khosa told the court that injustice had been served to his client, to which Justice Khosa responded that the Supreme Court had exercised a lot of caution in its verdict, so as to not 'add fuel to fire.'

The judge also noted that directions passed by the apex court have been completely ignored by the high court.

The apex court, last month, had ordered the re-arrest of Jatoi, Siraj Talpur and other convicts in the murder case. Jatoi was later shifted to Jinnah hospital on February 10, after complaining of a back pain. The apex court had also ordered for the names of the accused to be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).  

The three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, had also ordered the SHC to constitute a bench to hear the appeal on merit and decide it in two months.

Shahzeb Khan murder case

On December 23, 2017, Jatoi, the son of an influential feudal, and other defendants in the Shahzeb Khan murder case, were released from custody on bail after Shahzeb’s father submitted an affidavit in support of the defendant's bail application.

Shahzeb was gunned down by Jatoi in a posh locality of Karachi on December 25, 2012.

An anti-terrorism court in 2013 had awarded death sentences to Jatoi and Siraj Talpur for the murder of Shahzeb, while life sentences were awarded to Sajjad Ali Talpur and Ghulam Murtaza Lashari.