The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday adjourned hearing till today Wednesday on various appeals in Noor Mukadam murder case. The court also served notices to respondents on a petition seeking medical analysis of the main accused Zahir Jaffar. A two-judge bench comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Sardar Ijaz Ishaq Khan heard the appeals of the plaintiff and accused in the murder case.

At the outset of the hearing, defence lawyer Usman Khosa pleaded that the record of the phone talk of the accused with his parents didn't exist, adding that the forensic analysis of the mobile was also not done. The mobile in possession was different from the one in the record, he said, adding that the IMEI number of the mobile of the victim girl was also different.

The lawyer said that the FIR had mentioned the telephonic conversation of Noor Mukadam with her parents but the mobiles were not taken into custody. He said that WhatsApp data could be recovered but no such attempt was made. The defence lawyer said that the mobile of Zahir Jaffar was recovered from his house's almirah after seven days after the incident and its forensic analysis couldn't be done due to a broken screen.

He said Noor Mukadam had arrived at the house of the accused herself on July 18, 2021, and returned on the 19th. Later, she again came wherein the accused forcibly stopped her from leaving. To a question, the lawyer said that the two bags seen in the CCTV footage couldn't be recovered, adding that the trial court relied on CCTV only. The advocate said that the identification of the accused on CCTV cameras was also necessary.

The defence counsel said that the father of the victim girl Shaukat Mukadam had given a statement after watching the video but at that time he didn't talk about the abduction of his daughter. The victim didn't call her parents or police to tell the threats to her life, he said, adding that the girl had been in contact with her mother but she was not included in the investigation. He further said that the witnesses in the abduction case were different from the witnesses in the murder. The defence lawyer said that only S-1 was matched with his client.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-INP