Lahore DHA accident: Teenage driver sent on 5-day physical remand

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court in Lahore sent 17-year-old driver Afnan Shafqat on a five-day physical remand in a case related to the killing of six family members in an accident in Lahore’s Defence Phase 7.

The police brought the accused to court today after the judicial magistrate allowed the teenager to be produced before a judge.

The court also sought an investigation report of the incident in the next hearing.

During today's hearing, the police told the judge that provisions of terrorism have been added to the first information report (FIR). 

The police said they should be granted physical remand to investigate the accused. 

"Did the judicial magistrate grant physical remand before this?" the court asked. 

At this, the victim's lawyer said that the investigating officer did not ask for remand from the judicial magistrate. 

He urged that the police should be granted Afnan's physical remand, saying that they have not recovered anything from the accused yet. 

Later, the lawyer representing the teenager said that a fair trial is everyone's right. 

"We are saying that an unfortunate incident happened and we admit that the accident happened due to the negligence of the accused," said the lawyer. 

Afnan's lawyer told the court that he is only 17 years old, requesting the insertion of appropriate clauses in the FIR. 

"The accused can be tried under the juvenile court," he mentioned. 

The accident

According to The News, teenage driver Afnan had clashed with the victims and threatened them before hitting their car in Lahore's DHA earlier this week.

The driver followed the women sitting in the car from Y Block for quite some time. Hasnain, the driver of the victims' car, sped up his vehicle multiple times so that Afnan could give up the chase, but the accused did not give up and continued harassing the family.

However, Hasnain later stopped the vehicle and scolded Afnan for his behaviour.

Hasnain's father, travelling in another car, also asked Afnan to stop harassing the women but he rammed his car into the victims' vehicle at a speed of 160km/hour near McDonald's Chowk.

After the accident, Hasnain's car flew 70 feet away from the road and all the occupants died on site. Four people came to rescue but the suspect ran away after seeing the anger of the people.

Following the incident, the teenager was taken into custody and the case was handed over to deputy superintendent Kahna with sections of terrorism and murder added in the FIR.

On the other hand, the teenager's family is resorting to unethical tactics to pressure the victims' family into withdrawing the case.

Crackdown against underage drivers

A day earlier, Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Mohsin Naqvi ordered a crackdown against underage drivers across the province after the incident.

Naqvi directed the inspector general of Punjab police, capital city police officer Lahore and regional police officers to take action against those driving cars and bikes without a license.

“Underage drivers are not only a threat to others but themselves as well. Parents should not allow underage kids to drive cars and bikes,” Naqvi appealed while issuing the directives.