A division bench of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) Wednesday reserved its judgment on appeals against the conviction of Zahir Jaffar, the main accused in the Noor Mukadam murder case, and others.
The judgment was also reserved on the appeals of the complainant Shaukat Mukadam, the father of victim Noor Mukadam, against the acquittal of the main accused’s parents, employees of M/s. Therapy Works and seeking an increase in the sentence of the main culprit as well as the watchman and the gardener.
A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan heard the appeals.
At the outset of the hearing, the defence counsel argued that the reason to award the death penalty to his client could be to set a lesson for others. “Such punishment was used to be given only to habitual criminals,” he contended and added that there was international pressure on Pakistan to end the practice of awarding the death penalty to the accused.
Chief Justice Aamer Farooq remarked that it was a matter of legislation and only the legislators could review it.
Advocate Usman Khosa argued that his client, Zahir Jaffar, was a US citizen and there was no concept of a death sentence.
The CJ remarked that Pakistan was an independent country and it had its laws to implement.
The defence counsel upheld that if the prosecution could not prove the crime then the benefit of the doubt should be given to his client. The court asked whether any drugs were recovered from the crime scene and why the handbag of Noor Mukadam was not added to the memo of recovery.
The court asked the counsels to submit written arguments, if they wanted, within seven days.
With additional input from APP
Published in The Express Tribune, December 22nd, 2022.
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