SC dismisses Sindh govt's plea against acquittal of 2 MQM workers in Baldia factory fire case
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Wednesday rejected the Sindh government’s petition seeking to revisit its June 10 decision overturning the convictions of two Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) workers for their alleged involvement in the deadly 2012 Baldia Town factory fire in Karachi. Over 260 workers, including 16 who could not be identified, were burnt alive when the multi-storey Ali…
The Supreme Court (SC) dismissed the Sindh government's petition on Wednesday seeking to reconsider its June 10 decision overturning the acquittal of two MQM workers convicted in the 2012 Baldia Town factory fire in Karachi. The fire, which killed over 260 workers, remains the deadliest industrial blaze in Pakistan's history. The SC overturned the convictions of Abdul Rehman and Zubair on charges of murder, extortion, arson, and terrorism in 2023.
The convicts had appealed a 2023 ruling by the Sindh High Court (SHC) that upheld their death sentences. On Wednesday, a three-judge SC bench headed by Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan reviewed the Sindh government's petition, dismissing the appeal along with a separate petition requesting the removal of remarks from the June 10 decision concerning MQM.
The court found that the Sindh government's argument that the June 10 judgment contained errors in facts, circumstances, confessional statements, and failure to address the law of vicarious liability and common object was without merit. The SC emphasized that the prosecution holds the duty to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt and the court's responsibility to ensure no innocent person is convicted based on presumptions or unreliable evidence.
Written by urgent.news from Dawn's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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