Noor Mukadam murder case: Parents of accused move IHC against order of sessions court

ISLAMABAD: The parents of prime accused in Noor Mukadam murder case – Zakir Jaffar and Asmat Jaffer - on Wednesday moved an application before the Islamabad High Court (IHC) seeking cancellation of Sessions Court’s order to indict them in the murder case.

The sessions court had fixed October 14 for the indictment of suspects in Noor’s murder case.

There are 12 suspects include Zahir Zakir Jaffer, his parents, their three household staff Iftikhar, Jan Muhammad, and Jameel, and six Therapy Works employees including Tahir Zahoor, Amjad, Dilip Kumar, Abdul Haq, Wamiq, and Samar Abbas. The court had last month set October 6 for framing charges in the case, but deferred it after the suspects filed fresh petitions, seeking certain documents along with the copy of the challan.

Zahir’s parents in their petition filed before the IHC on Wednesday that on October 6 they had requested the additional sessions judge to provide copies of the evidence, adding that Adamjee had also filed an additional plea urging the court to allow four weeks’ time for her counsel to prepare for the defence.

“But both the pleas were dismissed by the additional sessions judge in complete disregard of their constitutional and legal right to a fair trial and due process,” the petition added. Zahir’s parents urged the IHC to set aside the October 7 orders of the sessions court and order provision of copies of evidence to them.

They also requested the IHC to direct the local court to grant them adequate time to prepare for their defence. Zahir’s parents were taken into custody on July 25 following their son’s arrest for allegedly concealing material facts from the investigation team. Subsequently, they had approached a district and sessions court for bail.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021