PHC commutes main culprit's death sentence to life imprisonment in Mashal Khan case

PHC commutes main culprit's death sentence to life imprisonment in Mashal Khan case

PESHAWAR (Dunya News) - The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has quashed the death sentence of Imran, the main culprit in the Mashal Khan lynching case, and commuted it to life imprisonment instead. PHC has also ordered the re-arrest of other convicts released on bail.

According to details, Peshawar High Court announced its verdict in the case of Abdul Wali Khan University student Mashal Khan’s murder on Thursday. Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Atiq Shah announced the verdict.

The court commuted the death sentence of Imran, the main accused in the case, to life imprisonment. The court also rejected the bail of 25 convicts, who were released on bail, and ordered their rearrest.

The Peshawar High Court upheld the three-year sentence of the accused, seven convictions of life imprisonment and punishments given to the rest of the accused. The government and Mashal’s father had filed appeals against the ATC verdicts while the convicts had filed appeals for acquittal from the case. The Peshawar High Court dismissed all other appeals in the case.

It may be recalled that Mashal Khan was lynched by a mob of students at Mardan University over a false accusation in 2017.

61 people were nominated in the case. The anti-terrorism court had sentenced the central accused Imran to death, seven accused to 25 years each and 25 accused to three years imprisonment. The anti-terrorism court had acquitted the remaining 28 accused.