Noor Mukadam case: SC verdict on Zahir Jaffer's plea against death penalty likely today
Pakistan
He filed petition against the IHC ruling upholding his death sentence
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) – The Supreme Court has hinted at pronouncing verdict on a petition filed by convict in Noor Mukadam murder case, Zahir Jaffer, against the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) verdict upholding his death sentence.
A three-member bench, headed by Justice Hashim Kakar and comprising Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Ali Baqar Najafi, resumed hearing on the appeal when the Jaffer's medical history from 2013 to the present was submitted to the court.
During the hearing, Jaffer’s lawyer Salman Safdar argued that the accused was sentenced to death for murder, life imprisonment for rape, and 10-year jail term for abduction by the trial court.
He added that the IHC however increased the rape sentence from life imprisonment to death penalty, stating that the trial court failed to justify giving a lesser punishment.
He argued that the initial FIR only included murder while other charges were added later. The abduction and rape sections were added 22 days after the incident, he pointed out, adding that the crime scene was the accused’s home while its evidence was not presented.
He explained that the record showed that the incident took place at 10pm while the FIR in the case was registered at 11:30pm, and the postmortem was conducted at 9:30am the next morning.
However, the medical report stated that Noor Mukadam died at 12:10am. A wounded person, Amjad, was made an accused instead of a witness by the police.
He further argued that the police relied on CCTV footage, and a photogrammetric test of his client was also conducted.
Salman Safdar contended that the murder weapon was a small knife while there were no fingerprints of the accused on it.
Apart from the complainant, Shaukat Mukadam, all others were official witnesses.
Justice Hashim Kakar remarked that there were no eyewitnesses to the incident and that all evidence was circumstantial.
Justice Kakar added, “If relief is justified, the court will grant it; otherwise, we will decide the case.”
He added that a reserved seats case was scheduled at 11:30am, and if that bench is dissolved, the Noor Mukadam case would be heard around noon. If not, the hearing will continue at 1pm.
During the hearing, Salman Safdar referred to the judgement in Judge Arshad Malik video scandal case.
In response, Justice Kakar said they are relying on Justice Asif Khosa’s verdict regarding verification of video and audio.
The hearing was then adjourned for a break.
