Zahir Jaffar’s lawyers conclude remarks in Noor Mukadam murder case

ISLAMABAD: The lawyers of accused Zahir Jaffar in the Noor Mukadam murder case on Wednesday concluded their arguments before the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) bench in their plea challenging their indictment and seeking provision of evidences record.

The court also served notices to the respondent on the petition of Zahir Jaffar’s parents against the indictment by the trial court. Justice Aamer Farooq of the IHC heard the case filed by accused Zahir Jaffar, Asmat Jaffar and Tahir Zahoor regarding the above matter.

The petitioner’s lawyer said only copies of the statements of witnesses were provided along with the copies of challan. No other relevant record was provided, the lawyer said. He said according to the law, copies of all the statements recorded before the police and the magistrate should have been shared with the defence.

The court asked if he wanted to say that statements of some people were recorded but they were not made witnesses. On the occasion, the police officials said the statements have been provided to the accused along with the challan.

Justice Amir Farooq said a fair trial required that all the records must be provided to the accused.The court took half an hour break and asked the defence side to view what record was still missing.

Later, the accused’s lawyer said after looking at the record, it was found that the statement of a witness recorded before the police was not found.The police said a copy of this statement was to be submitted along with the supplementary challan.The supplementary statement of Shaukat Ali Mukadam, which was recorded, was also being sought.

Justice Amir Farooq asked whether any statement recorded by the police under Section 161 has been left out or not. In this case, there was an eight-week directive to complete the trial.Petitioner’s lawyer Asad Jamal said he was not even provided the CCTV footage. The public prosecutor said that they were also providing the transcript of the DVR. Justice Amir Farooq said the court would pass the order.

The documents were to be handed over to the lawyers of the accused in the trial court.During the hearing on the petition filed by the parents of Zahir Jaffer against the indictment of the accused by the trial court, the court served notices to respondents and adjourned the case till October 25.