{"id":126259,"date":"2026-05-20T19:00:29","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/?p=126259"},"modified":"2026-05-20T19:00:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T14:00:34","slug":"in-detailed-order-court-rules-no-leniency-for-murderer-of-sana-yousaf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126259\/","title":{"rendered":"In detailed order, court rules &#8216;no leniency&#8217; for murderer of Sana Yousaf"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">ISLAMABAD(National Times)-  After a sessions court on Tuesday\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2001506\">sentenced<\/a>\u00a0Umar Hayat to death for the murder of 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf, the detailed order made public on Wednesday observed that the accused deserved \u201cno leniency\u201d as there were \u201cno mitigating circumstances\u201d in the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last year, Umar Hayat \u2014 son of a retired government official and a TikToker himself \u2014 was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1915163\">arrested<\/a>&nbsp;a day after 17-year-old Yousaf was shot dead in her Islamabad house on June 2, 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 23-year-old convict had&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1943555\">confessed<\/a>&nbsp;before a magistrate under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) that he shot Yousaf. In his statement, he admitted developing a one-sided obsession with her after online interactions, and said jealousy and suspicion drove him to commit the crime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Monday, he&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2001269\/accused-in-teenage-tiktok-star-sana-yousafs-murder-retracts-confession-alleges-false-implication\">retracted<\/a>&nbsp;the earlier confessional statement, but was found guilty and handed a death sentence on Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka, who announced the verdict a day earlier on May 19, noted in his 27-page judgment that the prosecution had produced \u201coverwhelming evidence\u201d against the 23-year-old convict \u2014 including two eyewitnesses, a judicial confession, forensic proof, and recovery of the murder weapon and stolen mobile phone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A copy of the detailed judgment is available with&nbsp;<em>Dawn.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a significant observation, the court noted that the accused was not nominated in the first information report (FIR), which actually strengthened the prosecution\u2019s case rather than weakening it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe behavior of the complainant\u2026 was natural and devoid of any mala fide,\u201d the judgment said, quoting the Supreme Court\u2019s (SC) ruling in Muhammad Wajid v. the State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The court observed, \u201cHad there been any ulterior motive or enmity of the complainant with the appellant, [she] could have falsely implicated him from the outset.\u201d On the contrary, no one was nominated in the FIR. This bona fides of the prosecution, the judge held, reinforced the authenticity of the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The court also addressed the accused\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/2001324\">retraction<\/a>&nbsp;of his judicial confession, which was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dawn.com\/news\/1926792\">made<\/a>&nbsp;before a magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC in July 2025 and withdrawn a day before the verdict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Relying on Article 91 of the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pakistancode.gov.pk\/english\/UY2FqaJw1-apaUY2Fqa-apaUY2Npa5plaw%3D%3D-sg-jjjjjjjjjjjjj\">Qanoon-e-Shahadat Order, 1984<\/a>, the judge held that a confession recorded by a magistrate \u201cin accordance with law\u201d is presumed to be true. The burden to prove coercion or inducement lay on the accused, the court said, and Hayat had failed to discharge it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Citing the SC\u2019s judgment in Sheraz Tufail v. the State and the case of Manjeet Singh, the judge observed that \u201ca retracted confession either judicial or extra-judicial, if found truthful and confidence-inspiring \u2026 can be used for conviction without looking for any other sort of corroboration\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, the court added that in this case, the judicial confession was \u201ccorroborated by the recoveries, the medical evidence and the motive\u201d, as well as by two eyewitnesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In another notable finding, the court relied on fingerprint evidence lifted from a mirror inside the victim\u2019s bedroom. Forensic team members had taken fingerprints from the mirror on a card, and Nadra\u2019s report confirmed a match with Hayat\u2019s fingerprints on his national identity card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The judge observed that this forensic link, along with the recovery of the victim\u2019s mobile phone from the accused, left no doubt about Hayat\u2019s presence at the crime scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While no motive was alleged in the FIR, the court held that the motive was \u201calways in the mind of the accused\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hayat himself, in his judicial confession, stated that the deceased had refused to meet him after he travelled from Jaranwala to Islamabad to wish her on her birthday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn [the] confessional statement of [the] accused, it is stated by the accused that the deceased refused to meet him and due to this reason he committed the murder,\u201d the judgment noted, citing Rashid Ali v. the State to hold that the motive stood proved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dr. Amna Rasheed Awan, who conducted the postmortem at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) hospital, had found two entry wounds on the victim\u2019s chest \u2014 corresponding exactly to the eyewitnesses\u2019 account that Hayat fired two shots. The doctor opined that the death was caused by cardiopulmonary arrest, resulting from firearm injuries to the heart and lungs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The court observed that \u201cmedical evidence is in line with the ocular account\u201d, dismissing defence objections about minor inconsistencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The convict was also sentenced to 10 years each under Sections 392 (robbery) and 449 (house-trespass) of the&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pakistancode.gov.pk\/english\/UY2FqaJw1-apaUY2Fqa-apaUY2Npa5lo-sg-jjjjjjjjjjjjj\">Pakistan Penal Code, 1860<\/a>, and one year under Section 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property). All sentences will run concurrently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The court also ordered Hayat to pay Rs2.5 million in compensation to the victim\u2019s legal heirs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In announcing the verdict on Tuesday, Judge Majoka handed Hayat the death sentence under Section 302(b) of the PPC for committing the<em>qatl-i-amd<\/em>&nbsp;(intentional murder) of Yousaf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The death sentence would be subject to confirmation by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) under Section 374 (sentence of death to be submitted by court of session) of the CrPC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yousaf, a TikTok star with more than a million followers on social media platforms, was known for sharing videos of her favourite caf\u00e9s, skincare routines, and traditional outfits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Her killing drew nationwide&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/images.dawn.com\/news\/1193702\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">condemnation<\/a>&nbsp;and reignited debate over women\u2019s safety in Pakistan.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD(National Times)- After a sessions court on Tuesday\u00a0sentenced\u00a0Umar Hayat to death for the murder of 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf, the detailed order made public on Wednesday observed that the accused deserved \u201cno leniency\u201d as there were \u201cno mitigating circumstances\u201d in the case. Last year, Umar Hayat \u2014 son of a retired government official [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":126260,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest_news","entry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>In detailed order, court rules &#039;no leniency&#039; for murderer of Sana Yousaf - Nation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationaltimes.pk\/eng\/2026\/126259\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"In detailed order, court rules &#039;no leniency&#039; for murderer of Sana Yousaf - Nation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"ISLAMABAD(National Times)- After a sessions court on Tuesday\u00a0sentenced\u00a0Umar Hayat to death for the murder of 17-year-old social media influencer Sana Yousaf, the detailed order made public on Wednesday observed that the accused deserved \u201cno leniency\u201d as there were \u201cno mitigating circumstances\u201d in the case. 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