Man sentenced to death for murdering SBCA labour union leader

A model court has handed down death sentence to a man in a five-year-old case pertaining to the murder of a labour leader.

Babar Siraj was found guilty of shooting to death Syed Ashraf Ali, then general secretary of the Functional Labour Union of the Sindh Building Control Authority (SBCA), over a dispute in July 2019.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Aziz Ur Rehman Junejo of the Model Criminal Trial Court (East) observed that the prosecution had produced sufficient evidence to prove that on the day of the incident, the victim along with his son Syed Talha Ashraf and Tanveer Ahmed, then chairman of the union, was present outside the SBCA canteen when the accused armed with a deadly weapon turned up there and fired at him.

The judge sentenced the convict to death and ordered him to pay Rs1 million as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased. In case he did not pay the amount, he would have to undergo additional six-month imprisonment.

The court further sentenced the accused to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment with a Rs50,000 fine in a separate case lodged over possession of an unlicensed weapon. The death sentence awarded to the convict is subject to confirmation by the Sindh High Court.

On March 18, 2021, a sessions court had convicted the accused in both cases. However, he challenged his conviction in the Sindh High Court that later remanded his cases back to the trial court to frame a joint charge in both cases and pass a consolidated judgment after conducting de novo trial.

According to the prosecution, the complainant, Syed Talha Ashraf, stated that his father Syed Ashraf Ali Shah was the general secretary of the Functional Labour Union. He said that a week before the incident, absconding accused Arif Mota, who was a stepbrother of his father, and Siraj, defaced pictures of the deceased and Pir Pagara on posters by spitting pan, upon which the deceased man had admonished them and Ebrahim Kaka, chairman of the People's Unity Union.

On the day of the incident, he said he was present along with his father near the canteen of the SBCA when Mota and Siraj came and exchanged hot words with them, adding that Siraj had brought a pistol from the office of Kaka and opened fire on his father injuring him.

The complainant stated that Siraj tried to flee the scene but was caught by people present there while Arif managed to escape. The injured died during treatment at the Liaquat National Hospital.

Meanwhile, the accused man denied the allegations of the prosecution and claimed innocence. Two separate cases were registered under the sections 302 (premeditated murder), 114 (abettor when offence is committed) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 23(i)(a) of the Sindh Arms Act at the New Town police station.