‘Court conducting Noor case trial as per law’

ISLAMABAD:

Additional Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani has clarified in the Noor Muqaddam murder case that the court is conducting the trial according to law rather than the opinion or desire of any individual or department.

He remarked that since the case is sub judice, no one can discuss the merits or demerits of the case as it may affect the case for the other party.

The court issued its reasons for the dismissal of three petitions of prime suspect Zahir Jaffer in a three-page order, stating that the petition against the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad was discarded on the basis of no evidence found that the officers conducted a press conference regarding the case, nor has given any opinion on the proceedings.

Public Prosecutor Hassan Abbas assured the court that the police would not hold any press conference on the under-trial case.

The second petition, which was filed against the investigating officer (IO) for allegedly drawing up an incorrect map of the crime scene, was also dismissed. The court in a written order stated that the court was informed that the prosecution testimony stage of the case has been completed and the map of the crime scene has been submitted to the court as evidence.

On the other hand, the prosecution is of the view that since the incident took place on the first floor, it is not necessary to include everything else in the site plan. Therefore, the petition to take action against the IO was rejected.

In the third petition, plaintiff Shaukat Muqaddam's request for disclosure of ownership of the mobile number mentioned in his statement was dismissed. The court wrote that the prosecution is basing its case on other more solid aspects of evidence rather than on the record of the said mobile number.

Judge Rabbani will conduct another hearing of the case today, in which a questionnaire will be given to the lawyers of the accused under section 342 of the Criminal Code.

Couple blackmail case

A session court in Islamabad on Tuesday recorded statements of four more witnesses in a case pertaining to harassing, torturing, and blackmailing a couple after making their obscene videos at a flat in Sector E-11 of Islamabad.

Additional Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani resumed hearing of the harassment case and recorded statement of FIA expert Asma Majeed, who was mentioned in the police diary as a witness in the matter in question.

She said that the request for carrying out forensic test of the suspect's voice was received on January 20, 2022, and its report suggested that the voice in the video clips matched with the accused.

Prime suspect Usman Mirza's lawyer appeared before the court and expressed his wonder that why the police did not get the forensic test of accused Mohib's voice done earlier.

Referring to various court judgments, the lawyer said that submitting a supplementary challan at this stage shows that the prosecution wanted to prolong the case.

Keeping his reservations in view, the court told the defence lawyer that he had the option to challenge the forensic report and the supplementary challan or cross-examine both in the court.

The court also recorded the statements of three other witnesses, including Muhammad Akram, Sajjad Afzal and Muharrar of Golra Sharif police station Kashif Hayat.

WITH ADDITIONAL INPUT FROM APP

Published in The Express Tribune, February 9^th, 2022.