Court repeats notices in Fakhra Younus case

Bilal Khar was acquitted of the charge of burning his wife with acid.

KARACHI: The suspects failed to show up in the Fakhra Younus trial, forcing the court to reissue notices it has already sent several times.

These notices were issued in the case seeking a re-trial of the son of a former Punjab governor who was acquitted of the charge of burning his wife with acid. Non-profit organisations Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, Shirkat Gah and Pakistan Fisherfolk Forum have sought the re-trial of  former Punjab MPA Bilal Mustafa Khar, the ex-husband of Younus.

Traumatised, Younus ended up committing suicide on March 17, 2012, by jumping off the hospital building in Rome, Italy, where she underwent rounds of facial surgeries.

On Monday, the two judges, who have previously issued and re-issued notices to the suspect, once again ordered the authorities to summon the defiant man. Twelve years after the case surfaced, three human rights organisations approached the court in 2012 to seek justice for the victim's family.

Younus had been allegedly attacked by Bilal in the year 2000. Bilal was acquitted after the four eyewitnesses refused to identify him in court due to his alleged 'influence'.

The trial court had also failed to consider the evidence available on record, alleged the petitioners. They had pleaded to the high court to summon the entire records relating to Younus' case from the trial court, examine it and remand it back to the court for a retrial.

According to the petitioners' lawyer, Faisal Siddiqui, the government had enacted the Criminal Law (Second Amendment) Act 2011. The case should be re-investigated under these laws, he said.

In a previous hearing, the petitioners said that Bilal had been arrested in Punjab over election rigging allegations, therefore, the prison authorities there may be ordered to produce him in the SHC. On Monday, neither Khar nor any lawyer on his behalf was present in the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 16^th, 2014.