Acid attack: Petitioners ask court to try Fakhra Younus case again
The petition was filed by the Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research (PILER), Javed Iqbal Burki, Najma Sadiq and Saeed Baloch through Faisal Siddiqui on Monday morning.
The petition was heard by Justices Maqbool Baqar and Shafi Siddiqui at the Sindh High Court.
In the petition, it was appealed to the court to declare the initial judgement of 2003 by District and Sessions Court South in the case illegal and that the case should be tried again.
The petitioners prayed to the court that in such cases, the court should ensure that the statements are recorded in a “free atmosphere” and that directions should be sought from the subordinate judiciary.
The plea further requested that the police officials should be aware of the amendment brought in 2011, in the criminal justice system.
"The court should be cautious and sensitive in the trial of the cases of violence against women specially when the prosecution witnesses retract their initial statements," said the plea.
SHC ordered for notices to be issued to the advocate general and prosecutor general of Sindh for a date to be fixed later.
The court also called for the entire record and ordered for it to be preserved as the lawyer for the petitioner fears that it will be tampered with or important documents will go missing from the case file.
Earlier, law experts had said that Younus’ acid attack case can no longer be reopened as the government did not file any appeal against the acquittal of accused former MPA Bilal Khar.
A case against Khar was registered on the complaint of Shahida Malik on May 14, 2000 for attempted murder. However, the discrepancies between statements of witnesses allowed the accused to file successful applications of bail and acquittal.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the hearing was underway in the District and Sessions Court South, which has been corrected. The error is regretted.
COMMENTS (19)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
He has been acquitted by a properly constituted Court after a Trial. An acquittal is final and must always be so. Those who are so eager to see justice done should keep this in mind. All people deserve justice and due process and that includes unpopular and disliked personages such as Mr Khar.
MarkH you make a good point and that might be the angle that needs to be taken but in our country the people with power can often have all the skeletons in the world and get away. For example, in the first case... the parents suddenly changed their stand on Khar.
My question is what does her honorable madam hina rabbani khar think of all this? as a person of power, should you not turn your brother in? you know $18,000 Italian purses and sunglasses but you don't know western values of justice?
Mandeep, you are so incredibly 'objective' that you generalize the opinions of 180 million people? Worse, you divert the main subject of the article. Is there any LIMIT to your Indian self-righteousness. How about your country where a majority elected the butcher Modi in Gujrat after his horrible pogrom? At least we have NEVER elected a religious party. Think before you type or type on a sub-standard like TOI.
I hate to sound like a religeous guru, but eye-for-an-ey is from Bible, not Quran.
I'm all for the guy going to jail. But, if you guys have a double jeopardy law, it's going to take a miracle. You'll have to come at him from another angle. Luckily people like him have a hundred or so more skeletons in their closet.
@Light: this is NOT an islamic rule, it comes from Judaism and Christianity.....and there is enough religious material to confirm this....
I and millions of other pakistanis demand this case be tried and Mr. Feudal Bilal Khar and his 'associates' face the music.
If it were not up to the liberal organizations like PILER, the SC and its judges would not notice these real crimes committed by the real criminals. However, this is not a political case and kudos to PILER and SC to take notice. Sad to see the world being shocked but not much comments in Pakistan. http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/fpnewstopstory/prominent-pakistani-acid-attack-victim-commits-suicide-after-enduring-dozens-of-surgeries-144537605.html?domain=fpnews
@Light: have YOU the heart to throw acid at a human? SAY NO to such violent thoughts! The only appropriate place for such criminals is a closed mental asylum.
Female who give birth to humanity is being treated like this. I am ashamed of this heinous crime .
Doing the right thing requires courage. I salute PILER and the three persons and the lawyer for doing what is right.
@Light: That's why we don't want Sharia in Pakistan.
It breaks your heart to tears to see and hear about this hideous crime and it makes you even cry louder when the criminal is an influential parliamentarian and has many connections to invisible hands to pull the stings of the system. Is this what we are going to leave for our children?
NO Comment from anyone ?
No one can voice up now ?
Why dint the court just hang this guy who did this to her & ruined her life
My God ! My heart just sinks after seeing this picture . Its high time she fakhira gets justice .May she rest in peace ameen.
When a certain deviant behaviour of an individual emerges in the society, it is absolutely possible to combat it. But when this deviant behaviour becomes an epidemic, it is then celebrated as the greatest heroic deed of the nation.
Psychopaths like Bilal Khar, Abdul Qadir Khan, Abdul Qadri etc etc etc are the heroes of Pakistani people.
Justice Maqbool Baqar and Justice Shafi Siddiqui are Sindh High Court Judges not District and Session Judges as mentioned