Noor Mukadam murder case: Court warns police about ‘clarification
Islamabad: The judge of the trial court hearing Noor Mukadam murder case has warned Islamabad police of action for issuing a ‘clarifying’ statement regarding cross examination of the police Investigation Officer (IO) in the case. The police in a press release had ‘clarified’ and dismissed the impression in the press and social media that it was in any way trying to give some benefit to the principal suspect, Zahir Jaffer, in the Noor Mukadam murder case.
In the last hearing on Monday during the cross examination, the IO had replied ‘no’ when asked if the trousers of the accused were stained with blood. This led to a public outcry, inviting criticism on social media that police was trying to do some favours to suspect.
The same day, a meeting chaired by Inspector General of Police (IGP) explained that there were no blood stains on the trousers since he was in shorts. However, the shirt of the accused had blood stains of the victim as per the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) report, it clarified.
In the next hearing, defence counsel in the court hearing, drew the court’s attention to the police ‘clarification’ saying it was an attempt to cover the loopholes in the investigation. A lawyer for the co-accused
Asmat Adamjee, mother of the primary accused Zahir Jaffer, urged the judge to make the clarification issued by Islamabad police a part of the case record. Advocate Asad Jamal, the counsel for Asmat Adamjee suggested the clarification given by the Islamabad police regarding Monday’s hearing should be made part of the proceedings.
When Additional Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani who is hearing the case asked which clarification he was referring to, Prosecutor Rana Hassan Abbas stated that reports in the media should be left to the media.
“The Islamabad police inspector general has interfered in the justice system,” Jamal said. The judge inquired whether this was done “officially”, adding that if so, this was not good. The court will take notice of it, the judge warned. The hearing was adjourned till February 2. Senior Superintendent of Police (Investigation) Ataur Rehman attended the proceedings.
Earlier, during the cross-examination, the IO was asked about details concerning Amjad, an employee of Therapyworks, who was injured by Zahir when they tried to intervene on the day the incident took place. The IO, who primarily replied either “yes” or “no” to the questions posed by the lawyers, said that Amjad’s statement was not initially recorded as he was in critical condition.
He added that Amjad was arrested on August 14 and was included in the investigation. When one of the lawyers asked him whether Section 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code was added to the FIR against Zahir after recording Amjad’s statement, the IO answered that it was not. He said that Amjad’s medical examination was not conducted and his bloodied clothes were also not seized by police.
The lawyer also questioned whether Amjad’s blood was collected from the crime scene, to which the IO replied in the negative.
