Court denies bail to woman involved in motorway police hit and run

The bail plea of a woman on judicial remand in Adiala jail for hitting a motorway police official and fleeing was denied on Thursday by a civil judge.

Announcing the reserved judgment, Dr Mumtaz Hanjara rejected the plea, observing that substantial evidence was available against the accused which, in hindsight, proved the allegations to be levelled against her true.

However, the accused's lawyer stated that the decision would be challenged.

Last week, a local court sent a female car driver, identified as Farah Zahira, to jail on a 14-day judicial remand.

The woman has been accused of speeding away after hitting a motorway police officer while being issued a fine ticket at the Motorway Toll Plaza in Islamabad on January 1, 2024.

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A case was registered against her at the Naseerabad police station on January 2, 2024, on the complaint of Patrolling Officer Mohammad Saber, under the provisions of interfering with government duties and resisting action, car hit and run, and injuring government officials.

The suspect was arrested three months later by Rawalpindi police after the video of the incident got widely circulated on social media.

At the last hearing, judge Hanjara rejected the investigation team's request for a five-day physical remand of the accused, and sent her to Adiala jail on judicial remand.

The court declared that the physical remand of the woman could not be given on the grounds of a voice-matching test of the accused.

The investigation officer was directed to interrogate the suspect in jail in the presence of a female police official and a senior jail official. In the case of the voice-matching test, the police would be bound to transport the woman outside the jail after sunrise and bring her back before sunset.