Navy hit-and-run: ‘Victim identified, parties negotiating’

Zainab Bibi, 55, had been killed by the naval chief’s motorcade on June 19.

ISLAMABAD:

Tired of waiting for her relatives to show up, the city police decided to temporarily bury the woman who was killed by the naval chief’s speeding motorcade on Islamabad Expressway last week.

However, hours before she was to be buried, her husband appeared at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) and identified her as 55-year-old Zainab Bibi.

Bibi had been lying in the mortuary of Pims since June 19 after she was hit by a Naval Police (NP) vehicle escorting naval chief Muhammad Asif Sandila. The vehicle concerned sped away from the scene following the incident.

In normal cases, police would have registered a hit-and-run case against the suspect. But this time around no case was registered till the filing of this report.

According to the investigating officer at Shehzad Town Police Station, the two parties have decided to settle the matter out of court.

“Her husband said he would approach the police if the NP officials refuse to compensate him,” the police official said, adding that the latter had sought time till Wednesday.

Asked about the reluctance in registering a case, the officer said they waited for the victim’s relatives to show up as out-of-court settlement was preferred in most cases.

Meanwhile, NP officials got their vehicle released from the police station. The police official said it was a government vehicle and can be released on personal guarantee without the court’s involvement.

Her husband, Muhammad Hassan, said he kept searching for his wife for five days before approaching Pims as a last resort. The victim, who belonged to Gilgit, was residing with her family in Shakrial for the past few years.

Published In The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2012.