Hamza murder case: Suspect Shoaib told not to leave country

State prosecutor disputes judge’s ‘provisional’ acceptance of <br /> charge sheet.

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) on Monday directed Shoaib Naveed, one of the suspects facing trial for the murder of an O’level student Hamza Ahmed, not to leave the country without seeking prior permission from the court. The judge of ATC-III, Ghulam Mustafa Memon, also directed the suspect to deposit his travelling documents, including the passport, with the court.

Hamza was allegedly killed by teenager Shoaib Naveed’s security guard, Amal Rehman, after an altercation on April 27 in Khayaban-e-Seher of the Defence Housing Authority, Karachi. After the murder, Amal was declared an absconder, while Shoaib was taken into custody. He was recently released on bail. Amal is the main accused in the murder case. The defence counsel submitted an application seeking the transfer of the Hamza murder case from ATC to the sessions court, saying that the offence did not fall within the ambit of the anti-terror law. Besides, the deputy district public prosecutor (DDPP) for the state, Abdul Maroof, while raising objections over an ATC judge for accepting the charge sheet ‘provisionally’ in a previous hearing, said that the judge had committed a ‘mistake and irregularity’ as per law.



The judge of Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) -V, Manazir Hussain Zaidi, who had heard the case as a link judge in the absence of the judge Memon, had accepted the charge sheet and issued production orders for suspects for July 1.

Earlier, the police investigators had recommended the murder case for trial by an anti-terrorism court after inserting sections of the stricter anti-terror law.

Maroof said that either the judge should have accepted it or rejected it, adding that acceptance of the charge sheet can’t be ‘provisional’ as it does not lie under section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code.

While issuing notices to the parties concerned, the court directed Shoaib not to leave the country till the next hearing. The hearing is fixed for July 8.

The case, No. 237/13, under sections under Sections 302 (premeditated murder), 114 (abetter present when offence is committed) and 34 (common intention) and 216 of the Pakistan Penal Code, read with section 512 of the Criminal Procedure Code and 7-ATA was submitted against Shoaib Naveed, his father Naveed Ahmed, Mushtaq, Muhammad Idrees, Abid Hussain and Amal Rehman before the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 2^nd, 2013.