1. ' MUHAMMAD AFZAL ZULLAH, CJ. ---This appeal through leave of the Court has arisen out of a murder case. Some accused were acquitted by the trial Court. The three appellants were convicted. It is case of death sentence; but amongst others lesser sentences were also awarded.
2. As stated by the learned counsel the three appellants are serving sentences of life imprisonment under the assumption that the amnesty order by the President relating to certain death sentences is applicable to this case also.
3. ' The prosecution case, as it emerged in the testimony of the complainant who is the main eye- witness, is as follows:- "Maula Bakhsh deceased was my father and Muhammad Shafique deceased was my younger brother.
4. ' Majeed and Faryad Hussain accused are real brothers inter se. Rehmat and Muhammad All accused are also real brothers inter se. Latif and Faqir Hussain accused are friends of Faryad Hussain, Majeed, Muhammad Ali and Rehmat accused. Wife of Muhammad All accused is sister of Faryad Hussain and Majeed accused. Muhammad All and Rehmat accused are first paternal- cousins of Faryad Hussain and Majeed accused.
5. ' About a year and 4/5.Months ago at about 5-30 a.m. I and my brother Muhammad Jamil P.W.
6. Were present on the roof of our house situate in Haveli Haq Nawaz, Baghbanpura. Muhammad Shafique deceased was milking the buffaloes whereas my father Mania Bakhsh deceased was sitting on a cot in the street which leads to our 'Haveli'. Suddenly heard shouts and then I saw in the street Faryad Hussain, Rehmat, Muhammad Ali, Majeed, Latif and Faqir Hussain accused.
7. Muhammad All and Faryad Hussain accused were armed with guns, Majeed and Faqir Hussain accused were armed with carbines, Rehmat accused was armed with a dagger and Latif accused was having a pistol. All the accused, who are today present in Court, started firing indiscriminately at my father and brother Muhammad Shafique. As a result of fire-arm injuries, my father Maula Bakhsh deceased fell on the cot. Rehmat accused then inflicted a dagger blow on the abdomen of my father. Muhammad Shafique deceased, in order to save his life, ran towards his house. All the accused armed with firearms, then again fired at Muhammad Shafique deceased. Muhammad Shafique deceased, as a result of the injuries received by him, fell inside the door of his house. The occurrence was witnessed by myself, my brother Muhammad Jamil, my mother Mst. Hamidan Bibi, Lal Din, Muhammad Sharif s/o Chiragh Din, Yaqoob, and Ghafoor P.Ws. We raised alarm whereupon all the accused ran away while firing. My paternal-uncle Lal Din P.W. Had taken Muhammad Shafique deceased, who was in injured condition, to the Hospital. Maula Bakhsh died at the spot. I left for the police station leaving my brother Muhammad Jamil near the dead body. I lodged report at the police station which is Exh.P.C. It was read over to me and I signed it in token of its correctness.
8. ' About six months before this occurrence Zafar Iqbal, a real brother of Faryad Hussain accused, was murdered. I, my brother Muhammad Jamil, my father Maula Bakhsh and my brother Khalil Ahmad were challaned for the said murder. However, about five months after our arrest, I, Maula Bakhsh deceased and Khalil Ahmad P.Ws. Were allowed bail by the High Court. It was in order to avenge the murder of Zafar Iqbal that the accused had murdered my father and brother."
9. ' The prosecution had the support of ocular evidence furnished by direct eye-witnesses, incriminatory recoveries as well as the motive in so far as the three appellants are concerned. The defence plea was of total denial and false implication due to previous enmity. The trial Court acquitted Muhammad All alias Munnoo, Latif alias Nikka and Faqir Hussain alias Kala, as it appears from the reasoning, on account of benefit of doubt. The appellants, however, were convicted under section 302/34, P.P.C. And were awarded sentence of death on two counts as well as heavy fine and longish imprisonment in case of non-payment. The High Court confirmed the sentences of death passed on Majeed, Rehmat but reduced that of Faryad Hussain appellant to life imprisonment. Leave to appeal was granted to examine the contention of the learned counsel that the learned Judges of the Lahore High Court found that "all the three eye-witnesses were interested and inimical, therefore, the case required corroborative evidence" and there was no corroboratory evidence against Rehmat appellant, and corroborative evidence against the other two appellants was furnished by the same witnesses who are interested and inimical in other context. Learned counsel for the appellants has reiterated the two-fold argument. According to him, in this case on account of strong enmity there was a need for corroboration. And secondly, that the High Court having agreed with this proposition did not examine the question of corroboration in an objective manner.
10. We have gone with the assistance of the learned counsel through the material to which he drew our attention. While reading the judgment of the High Court learned counsel emphasized the following observations:-- "Although we have unhesitantly accepted the presence of the eyewitnesses at the spot, and we find no substantial reasons for rejecting their testimony, nonetheless, we are conscious of the fact that as all the three eye-witnesses were interested and inimical, for safe administration of justice, corroborative evidence must be looked for....
11. ' Recovery of the blood-stained dagger at the instance of Faryad Hussain also, in a way, lends corroboration, as the dagger had been used in the commission of crime, though no allegation was made against Faryad Hussain of having done the same.
12. ' The carbine recovered at the instance of Majid alias Kala appellant was found wedded with 3 empties taken into possession from the spot, vide report Ex.PX, from the office of the Forensic Science Laboratory. The empties were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory, prior to the recovery of carbine. As such there is no reason to doubt the genuineness of the evidence of wedding of the crime empties with the weapon recovered from Majid alias Kala.
13. ' We may mention here that we had considered the argument of learned counsel for the appellants that Muhammad Yaqub and Muhammad Sharif while deposing as recovery witnesses, could not have lent corroboration to the ocular account furnished by them. The argument, in our view was without force as the evidence of recoveries, apart from them, was also deposed to by the Investigating Officer, against whom we find no material on record to have acted mala fide, against the appellants.
14. ' Rehmat appellant according to the witnesses was armed with a Khanjar and had stabbed in the abdomen of Maula Bakhsh which had resulted in protruding out of large intestine and omentum.
15. Although he had not led to the recovery of Khanjar yet as he was the only person to have been allegedly armed with a sharp-edged weapon, and had given one blow to Maula Bakhsh which was found on his body at the time of post-mortem, we think the medical evidence, in his case, in a classic manner, lends corroboration to the ocular account. Apart from that a Khanjar was recovered during the investigation, at the instance of his co-accused Faryad Hussain from his house. Faryad Hussain is his first cousin. The Khanjar was found stained with blood. It may not be sound corroborative evidence, but in a way, it does lead to an inference that the Khanjar used by Rehmat might have been kept there by Faryad Hussain.
16. ' As a result of the above analysis of the prosecution evidence and discussion, case against Faryad Hussain, Majid alias Kala and Rehmat, stands proved on the basis of the ocular evidence, the evidence of motive corroborated by the evidence of recoveries and the medical evidence."
17. ' As is often done, learned counsel for the appellants also complained that after having laid down the rule that in this case there was need for corroboration of the testimony of the eye-witnesses; the learned Judges in the High Court felt satisfied with such material only, as corroboration; which stricto senso, could not have been treated as "corroboration"---if this word is understood in its technical sense, as a word of art. We have time and again stressed that the exercise of the assessment of evidence as well as the making of a judgment and decision are complex mental processes. One may call an element as a supporting piece of evidence, another may be called it as corroborative piece of evidence and vice-versa; but similar effect can be created by either on the receiving mind. The need for corroboratory circumstances in such like cases arises by way of additional caution. Otherwise there is no statutorily recognized command for these aspects of judgment making. Nevertheless we agree with the learned counsel that in order to remove certain types of doubts from one's mind an additional exercise of locating the supporting circumstances and then using them either as corroboration or otherwise, is conducive to the safer dispensation of criminal justice. No hard and fast rule can be laid down nor can the Courts be bound by any strict rules in this behalf. They confuse the lawyer, the litigant and the Judge alike, in most cases.
18. ' In this case we are satisfied that the two Courts below were aware of these processes some of which are indeed niceties in the judgment making. This furnishes enough satisfaction for this Court when it gives importance to the findings of the Courts below.
19. ' It needs to be noticed that the use of certain expressions in the impugned judgment---for exemple, "in a way lends corroboration" was also criticized by the learned counsel on the assumed touchstone of what he called "real" corroboration. In the light of what has been discussed above this technical point as well is without any merit. When questioned about such technicalities learned counsel in fairness, on account of his very long experience at the Bar, particularly on the criminal side, frankly stated that the words like "corroboration" of witnesses; "promptitude" in lodging an F.I.R., are mere cliches. The real test, he said (if we rightly understood him) is the objectivity with which a deciding mind roams about in anguish mixed with anxiety, but with sincerity to discover truth; particularly when this discovery has to be made from out of a cobweb of acts, omissions and events---sometimes they are punctuated here and there by elements like; truth exaggeration, prompting, tutoring, embroidery and falsehood. He at long last, seems to have found out a truism in the intricacies involved in what is called the exercise of judgment making in common shared experiences, of our peculiar environs.
20. We having done so with the valuable assistance rendered by the learned counsel, feel satisfied that the appellants have rightly been held guilty and punished for the murder of the deceased in this case. This appeal thus fails and is, accordingly, dismissed.