IHC seeks reply from police on Zahir's parents' plea to annul indictment

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday sought a reply from authorities in separate petitions filed by the parents of Zahir Zakir Jaffer - the prime suspect in Noor Mukadam murder case - and Therapyworks CEO, seeking annulment of the trial court order of framing charges against them.

The petitioners argued in their pleas that the prosecution didn't provide them copies of the evidence, hampering their defence preparation. The trial court had on Oct 14 indicted 12 suspects including Zahir Zakir Jaffer, his parents, their three household staff Iftikhar, Jan Muhammad and Jameel, Therapyworks CEO Tahir Zahoor and employees Amjad, Dilip Kumar, Abdul Haq, Wamiq and Samar Abbas.

Following the indictment, Adamjee and Zakir filed separate petitions with the IHC urging the court to set aside the trial court order of Oct 14, while the CEO of Therapyworks had filed a similar petition on October 9 - two days after the trial court had set Oct 14 for the indictment of the suspects. The petition filed by Zakir argues that prosecution's case "is based upon surmises and conjectures" and that charges cannot be framed on the basis of "whims of investigation officers".

It also said the trial court's order was "reckless exercise of authority and against the basic provisions of law". The petitions were taken up for hearing today by IHC's Justice Aamer Farooq. During the hearing, the counsel of Zahir's mother, Asad Jamal, claimed that the police did not have a statement from any witness in the case.

In response, public prosecutor Zohaib Gondal pointed out that a head constable was the witness and his statement had been recorded last week.

Jamal also told the court that CCTV footage was not being provided to him. At this, the prosecutor assured the court that the footage will be shared with the petitioner's lawyer. Justice Farooq remarked that such lapses led to delay in trials and asked the prosecutor to ensure that such instances were avoided. He said a fair trial required that all evidence should be provided to the petitioners.

He observed that the court will pass an order binding the prosecutor to provide all necessary evidence to the defendants. The court adjourned the hearing till Oct 25 before issuing notices to the state and other respondents in the case. Zahir's parents were taken into custody on July 24 following their son's arrest. They have been accused of concealing material facts from the investigation team. Subsequently, they had approached a district and sessions court for bail. The local court had on Aug 5 dismissed their postarrest bail applications and observed that they had abetted Noor's murder and attempted to conceal material evidence.

Later, they approached the Islamabad High Court for bail, which also rejected their plea and ordered authorities to keep them in detention until the completion of the trial. However, the Supreme Court had on Oct 18 granted bail to Adamjee, Zahir's mother, remarking that the her role in the case was "secondary".

While granting the bail, Justice Umar Ata Bandial had asked the authorities to also determine why instead of the police, Therapyworks employees were called to the scene of the murder.

Therapy Works, a counselling and psychotherapy service, also came under public scrutiny as the murder investigation unfolded and it was revealed that the prime suspect, Zahir, was associated with it.