Eyewitness picks out suspect who shot teenage student

An eyewitness identified on Thursday three suspects as the ones who were involved in shooting and seriously wounding a teenage student in the Golimar area.

Ayan, 15, was shot when he and his friend, Awais, were riding as many motorcycles near the Golimar underpass within the jurisdiction of the Rizvia police station on March 29. Safdar, a police informer, Mirza Faraz Baig and Irfanuddin were subsequently arrested for alleged involvement in firing shots at the unarmed victim for not stopping his motorcycle after he was signalled to do so.

The investigating officer produced the suspects before the judicial magistrate-X (Central) on the completion of their physical remand. After fulfilling legal formalities, the magistrate lined each of the suspects along with dummies for the eyewitness to pick them out. He rightly identified Safdar as the one who fired shots at the victim, according to the complainant's lawyer Muddasir. The witness also identified the two co-accused as the ones involved in the incident and described their role.

The magistrate dismissed an application filed by the defence lawyer requesting him to not conduct the identification parade of the suspects as their videos had already gone viral on social media revealing their identity.

Muddasir, however, argued that such videos had no legal value until they were sent to a forensic science lab to ascertain their veracity. The magistrate also recorded the statement of Awais under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). The complainant's lawyer requested the court to record the statement of the victim through video link as he had been paralysed in the incident and was therefore unable to come to the court.

The judicial magistrate, granting the request, set April 8 for recording the statement of the victim through video link. He sent the suspects to the prison on judicial custody with a direction to the investigation officer to submit a charge-sheet at the earliest.

An FIR has been registered under sections 324 (attempted murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Rizvia police station on the complaint of the victim’s maternal uncle Noman.

The complainant stated in the FIR that a private person who had now been identified as Safdar opened fire on his nephew. “He fired at least three shots, critically injuring my nephew,” reads the FIR. “Instead of taking him to the hospital, they continued to make his video on mobile phones.”