Murderer literally jumps court

Man feigns sickness after conviction, leaps out of window, catches cab, busted on road

ISLAMABAD: An acrobatic convict managed to flee a courtroom in comical fashion minutes after a judge had sentenced him.

Mehtab jumped out of a window in the courtroom on Friday right after he was sentenced to death in a murder case.



Mehtab was convicted of killing a man named Sarab, in a case register by the Koral police five years ago. Mehtab had previously claimed that Sarab had sexually assaulted him.

Before announcing the verdict, Sessions Judge Ajmal Khan Raja directed a police official to handcuff Mehtab, who was on bail at the time. The policeman, a process server, told the court that he had not been issued handcuffs and thus, could not do so. The court repeated the instruction thrice and the policeman gave the same response.



In his remarks, the judge addressed Mehtab, saying that even if he was a victim of a crime, he should have adopted the legal route instead of taking the law into his own hands. When the judge sentenced him to death and ordered that he be held, Mehtab feigned illness and requested the court to open the windows for some fresh air so he could gather his bearings.



After a window was opened, he made a dash for it and jumped, safely navigating the 12-foot drop. Court official Ehsanullah ran after him and alerted litigants as well as policemen by shouting for them to stop him, but with no success.

Mehtab dodged three policemen deployed at the walkthrough gates near the court entrance and headed to Kaghan Road, where he got into a cab. His break for freedom ended soon after, as Ehsanullah and a number of policemen managed to surround the taxicab a short distance from the courts.

Later, the ‘runner’ was handed over to the Margalla police.



Margalla Assistant Sub-Inspector Muhammad Yousuf confirmed that Mehtab was brought to the police station after his arrest but would not confirm or deny that the accused had fled from the court.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 31^st,  2015.