Pakistan, Aug. 20 -- The Supreme Court has acquitted Abdul Razzaq, who was serving a life sentence for kidnapping a 13-year-old boy for ransom, giving him the benefit of doubt and holding that the prosecution case was not safe for sustaining the conviction due to material contradictions, weaknesses and suspicious circumstances.

A three-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, in a judgment issued after hearing the case on August 11, accepted Abdul Razzaq's jail petition and set aside the judgments and sentences passed by the subordinate courts.

The court observed that the prosecution primarily relied on the allegation that Abdul Razzaq had contacted the boy's fat...