Zainab’s killer to be tried in jail on daily basis

LAHORE: The trial of Imran Ali, an alleged pedophile, rapist and murder accused in the Zainab case, will be held in jail on a daily basis. The trial will start today (Saturday).

This was decided on Friday after the prosecution produced the accused Imran before Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Sajjad Ahmad after expiry of Imran’s physical remand. Punjab Prosecutor General Ahtesham Qadir informed the court that due to security reasons it has been decided to hold the trial proceedings inside the jail and requested the court to give its consent in this regard. The court accepted the request of the prosecutor general.

The ATC prosecutor informed the court that the investigation of the case has been completed. The prosecutor informed that different evidences have been collected, including CCTV footage, DNA test, polygraph test, accused’s clothes and others. The prosecutor also submitted a list of prosecution witnesses before the court. On this, the court asked the prosecutor whether the accused has recorded his confessional statement, on which the prosecutor nodded his head in no.

Advocate Mehar Shakeel Multani submitted his power of attorney on the behalf of accused Imran Ali. The court asked Imran’s counsel to abandon his all other engagements as the court will hold the trial on daily basis as per directions of the Lahore High Court. The court also offered to provide a state counsel to assist accused’s counsel. However, advocate Mehar Shakeel refused the court’s offer and assured his presence on daily basis. The court had provided the copies of challan to the accused’s counsel and remanded the accused on 14-day judicial remand in other cases of rape and murder of minor girls in Kasur.

Earlier, the investigation officer of the case had informed the court that Imran took Zainab, 7-year old girl, to an under-construction house where he raped her and killed her and later dropped her body at a dumping site near her house. Zainab was kidnapped from near her aunt’s house in Kasur on January 4. Her body was discovered in a garbage heap five days later. The public demand for immediate arrest of the culprit resulted in an unprecedented search in which almost all law enforcement and secret agencies took part and a large pool of suspects were probed, besides carrying out DNA profiling of more than 1,100 people. It is pertinent to mention that in Eman Fatima rape and murder case Punjab police had already encountered one Mudassar.