A three-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khosa heard an appeal filed by the stab victim, Khadijia Siddiqi against the Lahore High Court’s (LHC) decision to acquit the accused.
As the hearing went underway, the chief justice inquired, “why was the accused nominated after five days [of the incident]? despite the fact that Khadija knew the culprit well, who was also his class fellow.”
To which, the legal counsel of Khadija replied that his client was not conscious at the time of assault.
“Shah Hussian purposefully attacked Khadija as her car driver was not harmed during the incident,” the lawyer added.
Khadija’s sister was in a conscious state during the entire scene.
“Then why the identification process of the culprit was overdue?”
Nevertheless, the top judge remarked, Khadija’s sister was in a conscious state during the entire scene.
“Then why the identification process of the culprit was overdue?”
The persecution lawyer clarified that as per doctors, Khadija was in a critical condition, due to which the investigation officer could not record her statement.
“It is certain that Khadija was speaking at the hospital and she did inform doctors that the assailant was a boy,” the chief justice argued.
The accused Shah Hussain was also present inside the courtroom.
Case background
Siddiqi, 24, was stabbed more than two dozen times on a busy Lahore Street while she was picking her six-year-old sister Sofia Siddiqui from school on May 3, 2016.
She was attacked by her class fellow Shah Hussain for reportedly rejecting a proposal.
A Lahore judicial magistrate handed down seven-year rigorous imprisonment to Hussain after finding him guilty of attempted murder on July 29, 2017.
However, a sessions court in March 2018 set aside the minor penalties of the convict and commuted the sentenced to five years. Last year, the Lahore High Court acquitted the convict on lack of evidence.
Former chief justice Mian Saqib Nisar subsequently took suo motu notice of the acquittal in June 2018 and forwarded the appeal to another two-member Supreme Court bench led by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa.
Enraged at the then chief justice’s taking cognizance of the matter, the accused’s father, an influential lawyer, had moved a resolution to the Lahore High Court Bar Association, demanding that the country’s top court make rules on suo motu powers.
from Latest News - SUCH TV http://bit.ly/2R8rUZl
0 comments: