SC disposes of 238 death sentence cases in 7 months

Supreme Court of Pakistan has registered speed in the disposal of death sentence cases under the chair of Chief Justice Yahya Afridi as 52 percent of such appeals have been disposed of during seven months period starting from 28 October 2024 to till date 21 May 2025. 

According to an official statement released by the apex court, 238 death-sentence appeals have been disposed of out of the 454 cases. 

When the Chief Justice took office, 410 death-sentence cases were pending, 44 new appeals were instituted, bringing the figure to 454, but swift fixation and disposal have cut it down to 216 today. By comparison, in the same period a year earlier, only 26 such appeals were resolved. 

Chief Justice has constituted three dedicated benches: Bench I, headed by Mr Justice Athar Minallah with Mr Justice Irfan Saaadat Khan and Mr Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan; Bench II, led by Mr Justice Hashim Kakar with Mr Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Mr Justice Ali Baqar Najafi; and Bench III, chaired by Mr Justice Naeem Afghan with Mr Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Mr Justice Aamer Farooq to dispose of old appeals. 

The SC said the Court will now proceed as next phase to the cases of life-imprisonment appeals, preferential hearing such cases where the convict has already served two-thirds of the sentence—an approach designed to afford prompt relief to deserving appellants.