Noor murder case: Court rejects Zahir Jaffer's petitions

A court in Islamabad on Monday rejected three petitions from Zahir Jaffer, the main accused in the Noor Muqaddam murder case.

Presiding over the hearing, Additional Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani announced the reserved verdict wherein a plea against IG Islamabad Ahsan Younas, a request by the investigating officer to visit the crime scene and another plea to know the owner of a mobile number were rejected.

The verdict was announced after lawyers completed their arguments before the court. Public Prosecutor Hassan Abbas also gave arguments in the case.

Earlier, the trial court had sought more time to wrap up the Noor Muqaddam murder case. The trial of the case could not be completed within the two-month fixed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) for the second time.

Judge Atta Rabbani wrote a letter to the IHC seeking more time to complete the trial. In the letter, Judge Atta Rabbani has stated that since all lawyers representing the accused hail from outside Islamabad, the dates for the hearings have to be fixed according to their availability and convenience.

Read: Cross-examination of prosecution witnesses complete in Noor case

The letter further stated that except for one or two witnesses in the case, the defence counsel have cross-examined them, while statements of 17 witnesses have been recorded in the case.

It was also stated in the letter that during the trial, various petitions were also heard which consumed the court’s time and, because of this, the trial court could not be completed within the stipulated time of two months.

Earlier, the IHC had directed the trial court to wrap up the proceedings within two months after the indictment of the suspects on October 14, 2021.

The trial was supposed to be completed in two months by December 14, 2021.