Court seeks CDR of Zaheer in Dua case

KARACHI:

District East Judicial Magistrate has directed the investigation officer (IO) in the case of alleged kidnapping of Dua Zehra to present the Call Data Record (CDR) and supplementary challan of accused Zaheer.

The case of alleged abduction of Dua Zehra was heard in the Karachi City Court before the court of Judicial Magistrate Sharqi Aftab Ahmed Baghio.

Plaintiff's counsel argued that the C-Class challan was rejected after the re-investigation order. The accused came to the police but the police did not arrest him. "Dua was repeatedly forced to tell a lie, at whose instructions did the girl do this? Who will be responsible if the accused leaves the country tomorrow?"

The court questioned the public prosecutor as to how he took his statement when the accused was not arrested. The accused was in Karachi or Lahore on April 15, retrieve the CDR.

The IO said that as per Zaheer's first mobile number which was provided to the police, he was not in Karachi on April 15 and 16. The CDR of the new number will have to be extracted again.

The court remarked that you should take out the CDR and present it in the court.

The court directed the IO to produce Zaheer's CDR for a period from April 15 to 19 and supplementary challan. During the hearing, counsel for accused Zaheer Ahmed, Muhammad Amir Niaz Advocate submitted his power of attorney before the court.

Plaintiff's counsel vehemently opposed the submission of power of attorney by the accused's counsel.

Accused Zaheer's lawyer Muhammad Amir Niaz argued that he was ready to discuss the C-class report. Plaintiff's lawyer misrepresented the decision of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court spoke only of medical matters.

He maintained that plaintiff's counsel gave the impression that the Supreme Court had ordered an inquiry. It is completely wrong to say that the C-class report was submitted only on medical grounds. In fact the C-class report was submitted in the light of Sindh and Lahore High Court orders.

After hearing the arguments, the court accepted the power of attorney of Zaheer Ahmed's lawyer and adjourned the case till July 20.

In an informal conversation with the media, the IO of Dua Zehra case said that he did not receive the certified copy of the medical board report yet. The case will be further investigated after receiving a certified copy.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 7^th, 2022.