Landmark decision of Peshawar High Court

In Jan v. Federation of Pakistan, Writ Petition No. 5265-P of 2018 (Peshawar High Ct. June 16, 2020), referred to in this recent post, the Peshawar High Court overturned 196 Field General Court Martial convictions of civilian defendants.

The lion's share of the landmark decision is devoted to setting out the charges, proceedings, and sentences (ranging from lengthy prison terms to the death penalty) in the individual cases. The court's account of the proceedings and issues on appeal and their resolution begins at page 406. (The term jannat (408) refers to Paradise.)

The court observed (420): "It is the duty of [a] court of law to look into the matter especially on the touchstone of fundamental rights, as the prosecution, investigation; judge and jury are all in one uniform."

Among the flaws the court noted were the absence of First Information Reports or reports of occurrence, denial of the legal right to a copy of the record of proceedings, failure to afford family access, reliance on non-lawyer defense counsel ("services of such a Military officer can only be taken as a legally blind showing path to another such blind" (423)), and an absence of evidence aside from defective confessions. The court (at 426) set aside the convictions and sentences as "based on malice in law and facts."