PML-N lawmaker walks free in hit-and-run case

Victim’s family paid blood money by MNA’s driver, who was also acquitted

ISLAMABAD: A judicial magistrate on Friday acquitted a ruling party lawmaker in a hit-and-run case after the victim’s family told the court that they had settled for blood money.

The lawmaker’s driver, who was behind the wheel when the accident took place, was also acquitted by the court.



Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) MNA Sheikh Rohale Asghar’s driver, Zulfiar Bhatti, had been driving the lawmaker’s car when he hit a man in Blue Area on August 10, 2015.

The man, identified as Raz Muhammad — a security guard with a private security company, had been walking on the footpath when he was hit. He was rushed to Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), but died of his injuries.

Kohsar police eventually booked Asghar for ‘murder by mistake, by rash and negligent driving’. However, the case was only registered in February this year after Muhammad’s wife, Shaheen Bibi, moved a court.

Incidentally, in the FIR lodged, Shaheen claimed that the MNA was driving the car at the time of the incident. She further said that Muhammad was the sole bread earner of her family.

While adjudicating the case, the court in July was due to formally charge Asghar with murder, but both sides sought time to reach an out-of-court settlement.



While hearing the case on Friday, Muhammad’s family told the court that they had included the lawmaker’s name in the FIR due to a ‘misunderstanding’.

Their statement was corroborated by the police, who told the court that Bhatti, Asghar’s driver, was behind the wheel at the time of the accident and that the MNA was not even in the car.

After hearing the arguments, Judicial Magistrate Humayun Dilawar acquitted Asghar and Bhatti.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 22^nd, 2016.