Eyes Wide Open: Court Dismisses Murder Conviction Challenge

The Supreme Court of Pakistan has upheld double-murder convictions, rejecting arguments that open eyes on a deceased person indicate an unwitnessed crime. The ruling clarifies that closing a deceased individual's eyes is a religious and customary practice, not a legal duty.

In its judgment, the court explained that physiological processes, such as muscle relaxation following death, can lead to open eyelids. The court also noted that shock or the desire to seek immediate medical aid might prevent relatives from performing customary rituals. Furthermore, forensic principles like Locard's Exchange Principle suggest that touching a body could contaminate evidence, making it inadvisable for bystanders to alter the body's state.

Justice Panhwar's explanation referenced Article 129 of the Qanun-i-Shahadat Order, which permits presumptions based on circumstances, but stressed that human reactions to trauma are varied. The court concluded that neither legal nor forensic grounds support the presumption that open eyes definitively mean a crime was unwitnessed. Minor discrepancies in eyewitness accounts, when testimony is otherwise consistent, were also deemed insufficient to overturn convictions.