Court turns down Zahir Jaffer’s insanity plea

Counsel had sought formation of medical board to check mental health of Noor murder accused

ISLAMABAD:

The trial court on Wednesday turned down a plea seeking the formation of a medical board to determine the mental health of Zahir Jaffer, the main accused in the Noor Muqqadam murder case.

Trial court judge Atta Rabbani announced the verdict reserved earlier after the completion of arguments from both sides.

The counsel for plaintiff Shaukat Mukadam – the father of Noor Muqqadam had requested the court to reject the plea of the accused of the medical board. He argued that Zahir Jaffer had been appearing in the court during the trial and his insanity plea should be rejected.

Public Prosecutor Hassan Abbas told the court that the accused’s signature on the petition was not the power of attorney and hence, not even admissible.

He further stated that after reading the charge, Jaffer had questioned why Section 201 was imposed on him. When he was told why Section 201 had been added, he signed it, which means he has an understanding of court proceedings.

He questioned why Zahir did not apply for the formation of a medical board at the start of the trial.

Hassan Abbas said that Zahir Jaffer was working as the chief brand strategist of his company. While the company has declared a sub-office at the scene, can a mentally unfit person be left alone in a sub-office? If so, then it is the responsibility of the parents. He said that all these things proved that this request should be rejected.

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He told the court that the main accused had been counselling children at a local school and requested the court to reject his plea.

Zahir Jaffer's lawyer Sikandar Zulqarnain while giving arguments said that the attitude of the accused in the court was in front of everyone.

The court could not record the statement of plaintiff Shaukat Muqaddam and summoned him to record his statement at the next hearing. The court also issued notices to the defence lawyers.

During the hearing, the accused were presented in the courtroom.

The lawyers of the accused alleged that a campaign had been launched against them on social media especially on Twitter and foul language was used against them.

Plaintiff's lawyer Shah Khawar assured the court that this should not happen at all. All the lawyers were fulfilling their professional responsibilities, he said.

Computer operator Muhammad Mudassir was cross-examined by the defence lawyers.

During the cross-examination, Muhammad Mudassir said that he did not know the full duration of the CCTV footage clip, nor did he play the entire footage.

Lawyer Akram Qureshi said that he wanted the cross-examination at the next hearing.

The adjourned the hearing of the case till January 15.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, January 6^th, 2022.