ATC reserves judgment in Zainab murder case

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) judge Sajjad Ahmad on Thursday reserved verdict in the matter of Imran Ali, alleged rapist and serial killer of eight minor girls including seven-year-old Zainab Amin of Kasur.

The ATC concluded proceedings after the lawyers from both sides completed their arguments during the hours-long proceedings at Kot Lakhpat jail. Prosecutor Abdul Rauf Wattoo pleaded the court to award death penalty.

Statements of 33 witnesses were recorded and cross-examination completed within just two days. It is expected that the trial court would announce its verdict on Feb 17 (tomorrow).

Earlier, Mehr Shakeel Multani, the counsel for Imran, withdrew his power of attorney and said he was backing off from the case. He said after confessional statement of Imran, he did not want to plead his case. “My consciousness doesn’t allow me to plead case of such criminal,” Multani added.

Muhammad Sultan has been nominated as the new defence counsel by the Punjab prosecutor general. On February 9, police charged the murderer and rapist of the seven-year old girl. He is also involved in serial killings of at least seven other minor girls as young as five.

The high-powered joint investigation team submitted its 175-page findings report and produced the handcuffed suspect Imran Ali before the court amid tight security. After 13 days of interrogation, Imran was charged with eight rape and execution-style murders that sparked countrywide outrage and brought international condemnation. Police included 55 witnesses in the challan and said his DNA report matched with the seven cases apart from that of Zainab.

Zainab was abducted on January 4 from nearby her aunt’s house in Kasur where she was going to learn Quran. Her body was recovered from a heap of garbage near her house a few days after she went missing.