Islamabad: A report published by the physicians at Rawalpindi Central Jail Adiala deemed Zahir Jaffer, key accused in the Noor Mukadam murder case, medically “totally fit” on Thursday
Additional Sessions Judge Atta Rabbani reviewed the report during Thursday’s session when Zahir was transported by officers on a stretcher. The report claimed that Zahir’s medical checkup was completed many times. “The accused was also evaluated by a psychiatrist who concluded that he is [mentally] healthy,” the report continued.
Junior lawyer Usman Riaz Gul, who had represented Zahir at the previous hearing in the absence of the accused’s counsel Advocate Sikandar Zulqarnain Saleem, had at the time requested court then to issue directives for the medical check-up of Zahir Jaffer, who was carried to the courtroom by police officers while sitting hunched over in a chair.
“The mental health of the accused has worsened,” Gul had said, following Zahir’s arrival. Earlier, Akram Qureshi — counsel for Therapy works owner Tahir Zahoor, a co-accused in the case — had informed the court that Zahir was not in a condition to move after the judge had noted his absence.
Judge Rabbani had issued a letter to the jail officials, instructing them to get Zahir’s medical check-up done. After he was brought to the courtroom on a stretcher from the bakhshi khana on Thursday, lawyer Sajjad Ahmed Bhatti — the counsel for gardener Jan Mohammad and gatekeeper Iftikhar, two of Zahir’s domestic staff indicted in the case — requested the judge to send Zahir back to the temporary lockup at the court.
“The accused’s condition is not good,” he stated, requesting the court to send him back to the bakhshi khana.
At that, Judge Rabbani showed he did not want to summon the accused out of pity during the last hearing, but other counsel had sought his presence in the courtroom. He was alluding to the prior hearing when Gul had called the judge’s attention to Zahir’s absence many times.
An application requesting the creation of a medical board to examine the status of Zahir’s mental health has already been denied by the court, which stated in its written judgment on the case that the plea had been brought “simply to get rid of criminal culpability”.
The ruling, issued on January 6, said that the plea was made when the trial was reaching its close and the topic had not been discussed before the court earlier.
“Facts and surrounding circumstances suggest the accused is not suffering from mental illness [and] such afterthought appeal has been presented only to get rid of criminal culpability,” the ruling said.
At Thursday’s hearing, Basharatullah Khan, the lawyer for Zahir’s father and co-accused Zakir Jaffer, also performed the cross-examination of the investigating officer (IO) Abdul Sattar’s account of the case’s inquiry, which was recorded at the last hearing.
The court deferred the hearing to January 24.
Case background
Noor, 27, was discovered murdered at a condominium in the capital’s posh Sector F-7/4 on July 20. A first information report (FIR) was made the same day against Zahir — who was apprehended from the location of the murder — under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of the victim’s father, Shaukat Ali Mukadam, who is a former Pakistani ambassador.
After the FIR was issued in the murder case, Zahir’s parents and domestic employees were detained on July 24 on charges of “hiding evidence and being involved in the crime”. They were made a part of the inquiry-based on Noor’s father’s statement.
In his complaint, Shaukat had alleged that he had gone to Rawalpindi on July 19 to buy a goat for Eidul Azha, while his wife had gone out to pick up garments from the tailor. When he had arrived home in the evening, the couple found their daughter Noor had disappeared from their residence in Islamabad.
They had discovered her mobile number switched off and begun a hunt for her. Some time afterwards, Noor had contacted her parents to notify them she was heading to Lahore with some friends and would return in a day or two, according to the FIR.
The complainant stated he had afterwards received a call from Zahir, whose family were their acquaintances. The suspect had assured Shaukat that Noor was not with him; the FIR added.
At approximately 10 pm on July 20, the victim’s father had got a call from Kohsar police station, alerting him that Noor had been killed.
Police had later brought the complainant to Zahir’s residence in Sector F-7/4 where he discovered that his “daughter has been brutally killed with a sharp-edged instrument and beheaded”, according to the FIR.
Shaukat, who recognized his daughter’s body, has sought the harshest punishment under the law, for Zahir for allegedly killing his daughter.
Police then reported that Zahir had confessed to murdering Noor while his DNA test and fingerprints also revealed his participation in the crime.
Six executives of Therapy Works, whose personnel had visited the location of the murder before police, were also implicated in the case and were indicted with six others, including Zahir Jaffer’s parents, in October.
