F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday heard the appeals of the convicts in the Noor Mukadam murder case.
A two-member bench of high court comprising Justice Aamer Farooq and Justice Arbab Muhammad Tahir presided over various petitions related to the high-profile case. Shah Khawar, the lawyer for plaintiff Shaukat Mukadam, the father of Noor Muqaddam, the girl who had been beheaded by his boyfriend in hishouse in Islamabad, appeared before the court.
The convicts in the Noor Mukadam murder case including Zahir Jaffer, Iftikhar and Jan Muhammad had filed appeals against the death sentence.
The plaintiff, on the other hand, had challenged the acquittal of Ismat Adam, Zakir Jaffer, Jamil and six other accused.
The plaintiff had also filed an appeal to increase the sentences of Zahir Jaffer, Iftikhar and Jan Muhammad.
“Various appeals have been filed in this case. So, we will look at them one by one,” the court said. “The first is Zahir Jaffer’s jail appeal for which we have to appoint a public prosecutor,” it added.
The court issued a notice to the plaintiff and state on the appeal of Zahir Jaffer. It also directed the registrar office to make a paper book based on the record it received.
The court also sought arguments on the appeals of Shaukat Muqaddam and the state for increasing the sentence of the convicts on next hearing. Lawyer Kamran Murtaza appeared before the court on behalf of Iftikhar and Jan Mohammad
In the petition against the acquittal of the accused, the plaintiff’s lawyer was directed to give arguments on next hearing.
Meanwhile, the bench also sought arguments on the petition by the victim’s father seeking extension in the sentences of the convicts and against the acquittal of six suspects in the next hearing.
On February 24, an Islamabad sessions court announced the final verdict
in the Noor Mukadam murder case sentencing Zahir Jaffer, the prime
suspect, to death and acquitting his parents Zakir Jaffer and Asmat
Adamjee.
Jaffer got various jail terms on three other counts. Therapy Works CEO
Tahir Zahoor and other employees had also been acquitted.
However, two of Jaffer’s servants had been sentenced to ten years in
prison each. Mohammad Iftikhar (watchman) and Mohammad Jan (gardener)
were accused of aiding Jaffer in the crime. A third servant Jameel Ahmed
(cook) had been acquitted.
The Noor Mukadam case made headlines for its extraordinarily graphic
detail. The young woman was found dead in Zahir Jaffer’s house located
in Islamabad’s Sector F-7/4 on July 20 last year. It was prominent not
just because it emerged that the victim was beheaded and mutilated but
also because Noor’s father Shaukat Mukadam is a former diplomat, and it
happened in an upscale neighborhood. NNI
