• Prosecutor requests court to give exemplary punishment to accused persons
• Zahir Jaffer’s counsel says prosecution did not produce any eyewitness

ISLAMABAD: The trial of accused persons in Noor Mukadam murder case on Tuesday concluded and the judgement was reserved which the court is likely to announce on February 24.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani concluded the trial proceeding in about six months and recorded the statements of prosecution witnesses and the accused, including the principal accused Zahir Jaffer.

In his closing arguments, Shah Khawar, the counsel for complainant Shaukat Ali Mukadam, said the evidence laid by the prosecution was based on the recording of CCTV footage, DNA and forensic reports.

He argued that the prosecution had proved its case beyond any shadow of doubt and the accused were liable to be punished strictly in accordance with law.

The prosecutor, Rana Hassan Abbas, told the court that the accused was caught along with the murder weapon from the crime scene and his shirt was stained with blood.

He requested the court to give exemplary punishment to the accused persons.

Asad Jamal, the counsel for Asmat Jaffer, mother of the principal accused Zahir Jaffer, informed the court that the only evidence against her was the call details record (CDR).

He said the record was obtained from the office of the superintendent of police and it did not link her with the commission of crime.

Basharatullah Khan, the counsel of Zakir Jaffer, father of the principal accused, contended that all the state machinery was after this case. He criticised Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed for conducting press conferences related to the murder case.

He, however, requested the court to decide the case on merit as it deals with routine cases since media hype turned it into a high-profile case.

Zahir Jaffer’s counsel Shehryar Nawaz said the prosecution did not produce any eyewitness in the murder trial.

He argued that the prosecution had failed to clarify as to why there were no fingerprints of the accused on the murder weapon.

A lawyer representing the domestic staff of the main accused argued that they had informed the parents about the presence of Noor and the brawl between her and Zahir Jaffer. The lawyer said since Noor was a frequent visitor to Jaffer’s house the domestic staff did not expect she might have been murdered.

Noor, 27, was murdered allegedly by Zahir Jaffer on July 20 last year.

The police arrested Zahir Jaffer and latter widened the scope of the case and also picked his parents, domestic staff and therapy workers.

As per the challan submitted to the trial court in September, Noor lost six life-saving opportunities due to the alleged connivance of the accomplices of the principal accused, Zahir Jaffer.

Moreover, on the day of the incident, the challan said, Jaffer had contacted his father who was in Karachi on phone four times and the latter knew about the illegal detention of Noor and the situation at their home. But his parents never informed the police and even after their son allegedly killed the girl, his father Zakir Jaffer tried to relax him and told him: “You need not worry, I can handle this. I am sending people to rescue you and to dispose of the dead body.”

As per the challan, Jaffer was scheduled to fly to the US on July 19 at 3:50pm but he did not go.

The challan said on July 18 Noor came to Jaffer’s house at F-7/4 and the security guard let her in. A pet dog also expressed familiarity with her. On July 20, Jaffer and Noor had a brawl after she refused to marry him and then the alleged killer illegally detained her in a room. The challan referred to the statement of Jaffer in which he confessed to killing Noor.

The accused stated that Noor had rejected his marriage proposal and he detained her in a room. She got furious over her detention and warned Jaffer of consequences. She threatened to file a complaint against him with the police. As per the statement, Jaffer informed his parents about the incident and ordered the domestic staff not to allow anyone to come in or let her go from the house.

The challan said Noor managed to come out of the room and ran towards the main gate but the security guard, Iftikhar, did not let her go. This was an opportunity where she could have saved her life, it said.

Jaffer then detained her in the room again, the report said, adding Noor again made a desperate attempt and jumped out of the washroom’s window and ran towards the main gate. However, the security guard instead of helping her went to the basement.

Referring to the CDR, the challan said before killing and beheading Noor, Jaffer had made calls to his parents at 2:21pm, 3pm, 6:35pm and 7:29pm.

The report said in order to conceal the evidence and the body, Jaffer called five Therapyworks employees to the crime scene.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2022