Supreme Court warns against demanding exact shot counts from trauma witnesses

Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, writing for a three-judge Supreme Court panel headed by Justice Muhammad Hashin Khan Kakar, rejected the notion that eyewitnesses to gun attacks can provide precise shot counts or exact bullet trajectories. The court upheld the conviction of Muhammad Azhar for the 2017 killing of Sakhian Bibi after a lower court had reduced his death sentence to life imprisonment. Emphasising that traumatic stress impairs perception, the judgment warned that demanding microscopic accuracy is "unnatural and impractical."

It referenced cognitive psychologist Elizabeth Loftus’s research on attentional tunnelling, noting that witnesses focus on the weapon rather than surrounding details. The bench instructed trial courts to evaluate eyewitness testimony within the context of each case and to consider all evidence collectively. This guidance aims to prevent unrealistic expectations from undermining fair criminal proceedings.