ISLAMABAD - The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday directed Inspector General (IG) of Islamabad police and investigation officer to personally appear before the court on the next hearing of Noor Mukadam murder case.
A single bench of IHC comprising Justice Aamer Farooq issued the directions while hearing the bail petitions of parents of prime suspect Zahir Zaffer. The petitions were moved by Zakir Jaffer and Asmat Jaffer seeking bail in Noor Mukadam murder case.
During the hearing, the public prosecutor said that the case should be heard by a division bench of the high court.
At this, Justice Aamer asked that how the case can be referred to a division bench when the charge-sheet has been submitted to the court of an additional sessions judge. He asked the attorney that you are a young man, tell the Advocate General to appear and give arguments in the case.
Later, the IHC bench deferred the hearing in this matter till Thursday (today) for further proceedings.
Meanwhile, the same bench also heard the petition of Shaukat Mukadam seeking suspension of bail of Therapy Works CEO ??Tahir Zahoor and five other employees of the organisation.
The court granted time to the lawyers after hearing their plea, asking for more time to prepare case. The IHC had issued notices to six employees of Therapy Works including its Chief Executive Officer Dr Tahir Zahoor Ahmed in the petition filed against their bail granted by a lower court in Noor Mukadam murder case.
Earlier, Additional District and Sessions Judge (ASJ) Muhammad Ata Rabbani had granted bail to the six employees including Zahoor, Amjad Mehmood, Dileep Kumar, Abdul Haq, Wamiq Riaz and Samar Abbas and ordered them to submit bail bonds of Rs5 million each. They were arrested by the police on August 15 and were accused of “concealing evidence” related to Noor murder case.
In this matter, the petitioner Shaukat adopted that the sessions court judge did not fulfill the criteria of justice and requested the court to nullify the decision of granting bails to the accused persons. He added that the lower court ignored the rules and regulations laid out by the Supreme Court (SC) while granting bails to the suspects.
Barrister Qasim Nawaz Abbasi, the counsel for the petitioner, prayed to the court to cancel the bail granted to the six accused persons. The FIR of the case was also presented before the court.
He added that 11 accused individuals were arrested after supplementary statements, and CCTV and CDR evidence was presented. He maintained that a different judge had rejected the bail of the parents of the primary suspect, Zahir Jaffer.
Shaukat Mukadam, father of Noor Mukadam, moved the IHC challenging the grant of bail to six employees of Therapy Works in the murder case.
Shaukat filed the petition through his counsel Shah Khawar Advocate and cited the six employees of Therapy Works including its owner and CEO Tahir Zahoor as respondents.
The petitioner Shaukat requested the court to recall the bail granted to the accused in the interest of justice, fair play and equity. He contended that the respondents are threatening the petitioner of dire consequences and were abusing the bail granted to them. He added that the petitioner shall suffer an irreparable loss if their bail was not cancelled.
He stated in his petition that the sessions judge had made observations about the evaluation of evidence which it claimed was not the proper procedure in deciding such applications. The petitioner maintained that Mehmood and Kumar had concealed information about receiving injuries at the crime scene and instead narrated a deceitful story about how they were injured.
He continued that the accused had neglected to mention the cancellation of the post-arrest bail application for the parents of Zahir Jaffer, the primary suspect in Noor murder case, by ASJ Sheikh Muhammad Sohail.
Shaukat further contended that bail applications for suspects in a case were to be decided by one judge to avoid any contradictory judgment.
Noor, 27, was found murdered at a residence in Islamabad’s Sector F-7/4 on July 20. A first information report was registered later the same day against Zahir, who was arrested from the site of the murder, under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s father.