The defense challenges the absence of eyewitnesses and the confessions of the convict under police torture
HYDERABAD:
The trial for the brutal murder of famous Sindhi poet Dr Allah Bux alias Akash Ansari culminated in less than a year with the judge’s sentencing his stepson to death.
The Model Criminal Trial Court in Hyderabad sentenced Shah Lateef Ansari to death after finding him guilty of the brutal murder of his adoptive father and then burning his body on February 15, 2025, at their rental residence in Hyderabad.
“It is pertinent to mention here that there is no direct testimony of the incident,” pointed out the order, given by Justice Tasawar Ali of the 1st Additional Sessions.
“Nevertheless, I rely on the evidence last seen – a chain of incriminating circumstances which, considered collectively, point unerringly to the guilt of the accused.”
Dr Ansari had suffered 21 stab wounds, according to the autopsy report prepared by medical examiner Dr Abdul Hameed Mughal. The poet’s death was caused by hemorrhagic hemorrhage and damage to vital organs like lungs and not by the fire that burned his body and room.
Lateef, meanwhile, had pleaded not guilty. His lawyer, advocate Suhail Rajput, had argued during the hearings that Lateef’s confession before civil judge and judicial magistrate Abdul Qadir Khoso was recorded under duress because he was subjected to torture while in police custody. He further claimed that there were no eyewitnesses to the incident and no independent witnesses had been called in the case.
The police based their case on circumstantial evidence. weak and conflicting medical and forensic documents, he said. “The case that the accused made calls [to Rescue 1122] instead of putting out a fire does not in itself constitute evidence of murder,” he added. He also cited the reluctance of Meera, his sister, to record her statement in court as a weakness in the prosecution’s case. Lateef was an adopted son of Dr Ansari but Meera was his real daughter.
The lawyer also disputed the police’s claim that Lateef was a drug addict, questioning what medical and psychological treatment was provided to the accused within the police and in custody?
The judge, however, said in the order that the prosecution had established the charges against the accused “…it is now established that conviction can be based on confessions alone, even if they are retracted, if these prove to be true and voluntary.” The civil judge deposed before the court that he recorded the confession after recording all legal formalities.
