SHC rejects state challenge to Mahrang Baloch’s sedition acquittal

The Sindh High Court on Monday dismissed a provincial government appeal challenging Baloch Yakjehti Committee leader Mahrang Baloch’s acquittal in a Karachi sedition and terrorism case. The two-member bench declared the appeal non-maintainable, leaving intact the acquittal granted by an anti-terrorism court in December 2025.

The bench was headed by Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi and also included Justice Miran Muhammad Shah. During the hearing, the judges questioned the prosecution’s legal authority to file the appeal because the original first information report had been lodged by a private complainant rather than directly by the state. The court asked why the complainant had not challenged the acquittal himself.

The prosecution maintained that the anti-terrorism court had overlooked evidence while accepting Mahrang’s acquittal request. It argued that prosecutors should have been allowed to present their evidence during a full trial and that deciding the application before formally framing charges was premature.

Advocate Jibran Nasir represented Mahrang before the high court. Her earlier acquittal application had been filed under Section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows a court to acquit an accused at any stage when it concludes that there is no probability of conviction. The trial court had found that the record did not contain sufficient material capable of supporting a conviction.

The case originated from an FIR registered by Quaidabad police in Karachi’s Malir district on October 11, 2024. Complainant Asad Ali Shams had accused Mahrang and unidentified associates of provoking unrest and making allegations against state institutions. The FIR included provisions relating to terrorism, sedition, rioting, promotion of hostility between groups, defamation and statements allegedly causing public mischief.

Mahrang was acquitted by the Karachi anti-terrorism court more than a year after the FIR was filed. Her legal team had argued that the case was malicious and unsupported by credible evidence, while the trial court noted weaknesses in the prosecution record. The charge sheet had also been submitted around 10 months after registration of the case without an adequate explanation for the delay.

The Karachi case is separate from legal proceedings against Mahrang in Balochistan. A Quetta anti-terrorism court handed her and another committee leader life sentences in June in a case connected with the death of a security official during a 2024 Gwadar protest. Her challenge to that conviction remains pending before the Balochistan High Court, while the Supreme Court has scheduled bail petitions involving Mahrang and two other activists for October 21.

The latest ruling concerns the maintainability of the provincial government’s appeal and does not decide the merits of Mahrang’s other cases. Her Karachi acquittal remains effective following the dismissal, while proceedings before courts in Balochistan and the Supreme Court will continue independently. Any further attempt to contest the Karachi decision would have to follow an available legal route and satisfy the relevant procedural requirements.