Mukhtaran case: Judges misread evidence, says Aitzaz

Mai's counsel says the SC judgment will be challenged soon.

LAHORE:

Expressing disappointment over the Supreme Court’s judgment regarding Mukhtaran Mai’s gang-rape case, her counsel Aitzaz Ahsan has said that he will challenge the decision through a review petition.

In a press statement issued here on Monday, Aitzaz, who is also the former president of the Supreme Court Bar Association, said that he was deeply disappointed at the verdict of acquitting all but one of the accused in Mai’s case.

He stated that the judgment is manifestly flawed and is not even based on the evidence available on the record.

“In drawing their conclusions, the learned majority judges have disregarded cogent evidence and failed to notice actual material on the record and the facts proved thereby,” he said.

He said that the judges misread evidence and failed to take notice of the social backdrop and the context in which the horrendous crime was committed, reported and investigated.

The counsel said that the decision of the majority needs to be reviewed and recalled. “I have consulted with Mai, and we have decided that a petition seeking a review of the April 21 judgment will be filed soon,” he said.

He added that the petition will contain a full critique of the judgment.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 26^th, 2011.