Islamabad High Court Sets Aside Reduced Sentence, Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani Criticizes Trial Court Judge

Islamabad: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has set aside a trial court decision that awarded a reduced sentence to a police official in a case involving the shooting of a fellow officer, with Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kiyani making strong remarks about the conduct of the trial judge.

Hearing a petition against the reduced sentence, Justice Kiyani annulled the trial court’s decision and observed that the judge concerned appeared to be “imported” from Lahore and seemed unaware of how to handle the matter after being posted in Islamabad.

“The issue is that the judge is imported. He came from Lahore, and after coming here, it appears he does not know what to do,” Justice Kiyani remarked during the proceedings.

The case relates to a 2022 incident in which a police official shot and injured his colleague. The trial court had reduced the sentence to four years, despite the prescribed punishment being five years.

Questioning the legality of the decision, Justice Kiyani noted that Supreme Court directives were available on the matter and asked how a judge could reduce a sentence below the mandated term. “If the sentence is five years, on what basis was it reduced to four?” he questioned.

The high court accepted the petitioner’s plea challenging the session court’s verdict and declared the reduced sentence unlawful.