ISLAMABAD: An additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) on Wednesday reserved order on the bail applications filed by parents of Zahir Zakir Jaffer as the police have charged them in the murder case of Noor Mukadam along with their son.

ADSJ Mohammad Sohail will announce the decision on Thursday.

Zahir’s father Zakir Jaffer and mother Asmat Adamjee were taken into custody following the arrest of their son for concealing the material facts from the investigation team.

During the course of arguments, their counsel distanced the parents from the son and his crime saying that both of them have sympathy for the victim’s family.

Counsel for Jaffer’s family said that complainant Shaukat Mukadam, father of Noor Mukadam, lodged an FIR with the Kohsar police station at 11:30 pm on July 20 and did not nominate parents as accused.

He said that Zahir’s parents have condemned the murder since the day first and expressed solidarity with the aggrieved family.

According to the lawyer, the police implicated parents of Zahir Jaffer on the basis of latter’s testimony recorded before the investigation officer under section 161 of the criminal procedure code.

He insisted that his client did not know what was happening in his house.

The prosecutor on the other hand argued that the accused was in contact with his parents at the time of occurrence of the crime as he was interacting with the parents but they did not inform the local police and when the security guard apprised them about the situation, they called the therapy workers instead.

He further said the role of the parents was evident in the CCTV and Digital Video Recorder footage and Call Data Record and they visibly tried to save Zahir.

He pointed out that the pistol recovered from the accused was registered in the name of his father Zakir Jaffer.

He requested the court to dismiss the bail petition.

The defence counsel argued that it was not a crime to call the mother and this was a routine communication.

He argued that since there was no apprehension of absconding of Zahir’s parents, therefore, the court may accept the bail applications.

Published in Dawn, August 5th, 2021