Time-barred appeal can’t be allowed: SC

RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court Friday observed that time-barred appeal can’t be entertained as it would set wrong precedent.

A three-judge bench, headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa, dismissed an appeal against the Peshawar High Court verdict in a murder case.

Muhammad Mujahid, an 18-year-old boy, was murdered by Imran and Aziz-ur-Rehman in Nowshera in 2011 following a minor dispute. The District and Sessions Court Nowshera awarded death sentence to the accused. However, Peshawar High Court acquitted the accused due to insufficient evidence.

The appellant, Mujahid’s father, appeared before the bench and informed that he is a poor man and therefore instead of engaging a lawyer, he was appearing in person. Mujahid’s father informed that he had filed the appeal against the PHC in time but the Registrar Office returned it with the objection that some documents were missing. He said that after attaching all the documents, the SC office said that his application is only four days time-barred.

Justice Khosa remarked: “Except a few all the people in the country are poor.” He said the law has prescribed timeframe for filing appeal. The judge said they could not hear time-barred application as they can’t ignore the law.

The applicant prayed to have mercy on him, adding that his appeal is only four days time-barred. Justice Khosa stated it is not a matter of mercy but of law. “If they would hear time-barred appeals then it would become a precedent,” he added. Justice Khosa told the appellant if he had engaged a lawyer the situation could be avoided.