MUZAFFARABAD – Minister for Higher Education in Azad Jammu and Kashmir Malik Zafar Iqbal has been sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment in a two-decade-old murder case.
Reports in local media said a two-member bench, comprising Justice Sardar Ejaz and Justice Khalid Rasheed Chaudhry, announced the reserved verdict. The court found him guilty of murder and handed him rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs1 million.
Malik Zaffar Iqbal was booked in this case in an application lodged with Kotli police station in the year 2003 by a family member of Amir Asif Shah.
آزاد کشمیر کے وزیر ہائر ایجوکیشن ملک ظفر اقبال کو ہائی کورٹ نے قتل کے مشہور مقدمہ میں 14 سال قید کی سزا سنا دی،کمرہ عدالت سے گرفتار،مقدمہ کا فیصلہ 19 سال بعد جناب جسٹس سردار اعجاز اور جناب جسٹس خالد رشید چودھری نے سنایا۔ pic.twitter.com/KtIVjMAMky
— Raja Rukhsar Ahmed Khan (@Rrnewsmuzaffara) August 4, 2022
In the FIR, the complainant’s brother alleged that a group of armed people, including Zafar Iqbal, stormed his shop in Riyan Gala village and had opened a shot at his brother Amir Asif Shah which hit him in his forehead and later killed him.
The AJK police first lodged a case under sections 324,147, 148, 149, 337-A1 of Azad Penal Code and section 302 and section 13/20/65 of Arms Act were added after Shah succumbed to his wounds during medical treatment.
First, the district criminal court Kotli, conducted the trial of the case, and later the sessions judge acquitted the accused persons from all the charges by extending the benefit of doubt.
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Last month, the Shariat Appellate bench of AJK court, reserved the judgment which was announced on Wednesday at the principal seat in a full courtroom.