Noor Mukadam Case: Defence lawyer argues no crime scene evidence presented against Jaffer

Salman Safdar, counsel of Zahir Jaffer — the man convicted for the gruesome murder of 27-year-old Noor Mukadam — on Monday argued that the crime occurred at Jaffer’s residence, but no evidence from the scene was presented before the court.  

The defence lawyer made the remarks as a three-member bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice Hashim Kakar and comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, heard the appeal filed by Jaffer against his death sentence in the brutal murder case.

During proceedings, Justice Kakar further said: “Judges must be willing to bear some pain. It shouldn’t be that we admit an appeal for a preliminary hearing and then don’t hear it. People remain on death row for 10 years — this will not happen anymore.”

Justice Najafi observed: "Our system is such that parties know everything", adding that parties are aware of the full facts.

Meanwhile, Justice Ibrahim added that deciding on a case is the "trial of the judges who conduct the proceedings".

The defence lawyer, Salman Safdar, presented the complete medical history of the convict dating back to 2013. He argued that the accused was sentenced to death for murder, life imprisonment for rape, and 10 years for kidnapping.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) later converted the life sentence for rape into a death sentence, citing that the trial court did not justify awarding a lesser punishment.

Safdar claimed the initial First Information Report (FIR) only included murder, with rape and kidnapping sections added 22 days later. He said the crime occurred at Jaffer’s residence, but no evidence from the scene was presented.

According to records, the incident took place at 10pm, the FIR was registered at 11:30pm, and the post-mortem was conducted at 9:30am on the next day, which determined the time of death as 12:10am.

He noted that one injured individual, Amjad, was nominated as a suspect instead of a witness and that the prosecution relied heavily on CCTV footage. Safdar added that a photogrammetric test was also conducted on Jaffer.

During arguments, Safdar referenced Judge Arshad Malik's video scandal verdict and former chief justice Asif Saeed Khosa’s ruling on audio-video authentication. Justice Kakar said that they relied on the verdict in the case.

Safdar stated that all witnesses except for complainant Shaukat Mukadam were state witnesses. Justice Kakar responded: “According to you, there is no eyewitness. All evidence is circumstantial.”

Justice Kakar also observed: “The girl was murdered in the presence of six to seven people." The complainant’s lawyer added that employees of Therapy Clinic were nominated as suspects for allegedly concealing facts.

The hearing was then adjourned until tomorrow morning.