SC upholds consecutive life terms in multiple murder cases

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court has affirmed that imposing concurrent sentences in cases involving multiple murders substantially diminishes the seriousness of additional offences and artificially equates the taking of one life with the taking of several. “To direct all sentences to merge into one concurrent term in cases of multiple murders would substantially dilute the gravity of the additional offences and create an artificial equivalence between the taking of one life and the taking of several,” observed Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar in a judgement he authored. Justice Kakar, who headed a three-judge SC bench comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, heard a jail petition filed by Qaiser Abbas against a May 11, 2018, judgement of the Lahore High Court. Qaiser Abbas was convicted of killing Faiza Bibi and Abiha on June 23, 2011. The prosecution stated a quarrel had taken place a month earlier between the deceased, Faiza Bibi, the complainant’s wife, and Shameem Bibi, the petitioner’s sister. Owing to this grudge, the victims were murdered. Rules concurrent sentences in multiple murders undermine gravity of crimes Following these allegations, Qaiser Abbas was arrested in the case (FIR828, dated June 23, 2011) registered at Allama Iqbal Town police station, Lahore. After a regular trial, the trial court convicted him on two counts under Section 302(b) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and ordered the two life imprisonment sentences to run consecutively. At the outset of the hearing before the SC, Zulfiqar Khalid Maluka, representing the petitioner, said he was not contesting the conviction on merit. Instead, the petitioner sought modification of the sentence so that the two life imprisonment terms would run concurrently rather than consecutively. The counsel argued that the petitioner could not be sentenced to more than one life term in light of the bar contained in Section 35(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC). In support of his