Noor Muqaddam murder case: Zahir Jaffer’s parents approach SC for bail

ISLAMABAD: The parents of Zahir Jaffer, who is the prime suspect in the Noor Muqaddam murder case, have filed a bail plea in Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan through advocate Khawaja Haris.

After rejection of their bail from Islamabad High Court (IHC) on September 29, Zakir Jaffer and his wife Asmat Zakir have now hired the services of high profile advocate Khawaja Haris and has filed the bail plea in Supreme Court.

IHC has also ordered the lower court to complete the trial of the case within the next four weeks.

It must be mentioned here that Noor Mukadam was brutally murdered on July 20 allegedly by her friend Zahir Jaffer in Islamabad.

Both Zakir Jaffer and his wife Asmat Zakir in their bail petition have stated: “Whether even in relying on the alleged statement of the watchman (chowkidar) to impute knowledge to the Petitioner regarding the victim being held in confinement, the learned Single Judge has acted in derogation of the principle laid down in numerous judgments of the superior courts that statement made by a co-accused is not admissible in evidence, and cannot per se constitute a factor for denial of bail?”

The petition further states that “the learned Single Judge has acted arbitrarily in rejecting the bail of the Petitioner by presuming that the Petitioner was allegedly aware of his son’s purported intention to commit murder of the victim, more so when no such evidence against him exists on the record, and even in the impugned Order no such statement of any witness, or even a co-accused, is referred to or relied upon?”

The bail plea further highlighted that whether an allegation made by the prosecution that the Therapy Works personnel arrived at the place of incident to clear the scene of the crime and remove the evidence is not supported by any material / evidence placed on the record, rather, during the course of investigation, not a single piece or category of evidence, whether it be alleged weapon of offence used against the victim, or the alleged firearm used against one of the personnel of the Therapy Works, or the dismembered body of the victim, or the CCTV cameras with all the recordings, was found missing from the spot, while, insofar as the conduct of the Petitioner is concerned, he along with his wife had themselves joined the investigation, and had fully cooperated with the police, providing each and every information during the investigation even prior to their arrest?

The petition states that Zakir Jaffer and his wife Asmat Zakir were in Karachi when the incident happened. However, immediately upon coming to know of Noor’s murder, both made arrangements and reached Islamabad. Be that as it may, during their stay in Islamabad, the Petitioner and his wife came to apprehend that the Police was intending or trying to implicate them as accessories to the gruesome murder of Noor Muaqaddam, and, consequently, they were constrained to seek, and obtained, pre-arrest bail from the Court of the Learned Additional Sessions Judge on 24.07.2021.

“However, since the Petitioner and his wife were not in a position to arrange a local surety from Islamabad, they applied for and were allowed to deposit the surety amount in cash. But then the banks were closed, it being a Saturday, and as such the surety amount could not be deposited on the said date.

Nevertheless, the Petitioner and his wife went to the Police Station, taking along with them certified copy of the interim pre-arrest bail order, and a certificate from their learned counsel, explaining the reason why surety bonds could not be submitted on that day, but despite being apprised of the aforenoted facts, the I.O/SHO Kohsar, maneuvered to place the Petitioner and his wife under arrest on the pretext that the first informant had named them (as accused) in a supplementary statement recorded on that very day.

“Thereafter, the Petitioner and his wife were produced before the learned Judicial Magistrate Section-30, Islamabad-West on the very next day, and the learned Magistrate, vide order dated 25.07.2021, allowed their two days remand to police custody upto 27.07.2021. However, on the request of the 1.O./SHO Police Station, Kohsar, both the Petitioner and his wife were remanded to judicial custody on 27.07.2021, and ever since they are locked up in Central Jail, at Adiala, Rawalpindi.”

The petitioner has requested that court to impugned Order dated 29.09.2021 passed by Islamabad High Court, Islamabad in Crl. Misc. 884-B of 2021 may very kindly be set aside and the Petitioner may very graciously be directed to be released on post-arrest bail pending trial.