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The Supreme Court on Wednesday formally admitted for hearing an appeal filed by stabbing victim Khadija Siddiqui against the acquittal of her accused attacker, Shah Hussain.
A two-judge bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and including Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah fixed the appeal for hearing after summer holidays.
The court today directed Hussain to submit surety bonds worth Rs100,000 to ensure his appearance at the next hearing.
Justice Khosa during the hearing wondered what reason there was for Khadija and her younger sister to accuse Hussain of the crime out of all the people.
He asked the accused's lawyer whether both Hussain and Khadija were law students. Khadija was a fellow law student of Hussain when she was attacked.
"Both of them must have learnt quite a bit about law following this incident," the senior judge remarked.
Justice Khosa observed that the victim was attacked during daytime, adding that there would have been room for doubt had the incident occurred during the night.
Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar had taken suo motu notice of Hussain's acquittal by the Lahore High Court. He told Khadija's counsel on Sunday that her appeal would be forwarded for hearing to an SC bench headed by Justice Khosa.
Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem of the LHC had on June 4 acquitted Hussain giving him benefit of doubt. The judge had observed that the prosecution had failed to establish its case and the court could not solely rely upon the statement of the injured victim and witness.
Last year, a judicial magistrate had sentenced Hussain to seven-year imprisonment under section 324 of the Pakistan Penal Code for trying to kill Khadija. Later in March this year, a district and sessions court had reduced the sentence by two years.
According to the prosecution, Hussain attacked Khadija on May 3, 2016 near Shimla Hill where she along with her family driver had gone to pick up her younger sister from school. Both sisters were about to get into their car when a helmet-wearing Hussain attacked Khadija with a knife and stabbed her 23 times, leaving her critically injured. The Civil Lines police had registered a case against Hussain on the charge of murder attempt.
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Crystal clear case of attempted murder and intentional act of causing grevious bodily harm with intent, why is our justice system so broken?
The Lahore Bar is masking the justice. Bravo CJP as lawyers or their families should not be above the law.
Hopefully, in her way to achieving justice at last!
If acquittal is reversed, I hope the SC will sentence him to long time in prison, take stern action against his obviously self-serving meddling father and also investigate the Session Court judge to uncover any collusion or undue influence on him to let the guy go free!
Time to set the record straight and hand down due punishment to all involved in this travisty!
Finally some relief for this young woman. Why can't government sometimes step in, instead of leaving everything for supreme Court to do.
Notwithstanding the visible and countable 23 stab wounds on the body of the victim, the judge had observed that the prosecution had failed to establish its case and the court could not solely rely upon the statement of the injured victim and witness and therefore decided to rely entirely upon the statement of accused,
good... if proven guilty he should be in jail for 10 years atleast
Unbiased Justice in sight. The attacker will meet his fate.
Bad reflection on senior judiciary.
The fixing of the date for Khadijas case is not enough. The supreme court should also look into how the assailant,s father exerted his influence on the senior attorneys not to take her case. He also tabled a motion in the Lahore Bar Association criticizing the Chief Justice.This no less than Mafia where the victim has been denied the fair hearing and also hampered the police investigation of the case. The police recovered the knife after few months with no blood stains. The police bungled up the case and because of their incompetence, the assailant may go free. The police officer incharge of the investigation should be arrested and charged with neglience.
Some people on TV are saying that bloodstains on his helmet match her DNA.
Not sure what the full facts are but, if the DNA matches, that's pretty damning evidence.