LAHORE: A judicial magistrate at Cantonment Courts on Tuesday sent a teenage boy to jail on judicial remand in a case of deadly road accident in Phase-VII of the Defence Housing Authority (DHA) that claimed lives of six of a family.

The police presented the suspect, Afnan Shafqat, before the magistrate with his face covered. The investigating officer asked the magistrate to allow physical remand of the suspect to complete investigation of the case.

A counsel for the suspect opposed the remand denying the charges against him. He said Afnan had no role in the car accident. The magistrate turned down the police request for physical remand and sent the suspect to jail on judicial remand.

The police alleged that a speeding car driven by the teenage suspect led to the accident, which claimed the lives of six members of a family.

Those who lost their lives were identified as Rukhsana Bibi (45), her son Husnain (25), daughter-in-law Ayesha (23), her son-in-law Sajjad (30), four-month-old grandson Huzaifa, and her granddaughter Anaya (4).

The police arrested the boy from the spot and lodged a case against him.

Eyewitnesses said the suspect was alone in the car when people rescued him and handed over to the police.

Later, the city traffic police released a video statement of the juvenile suspect on social media wherein he claimed that he was not alone in the car. Afnan, a resident of Askari-11 claimed that he and his friends were going to a fast food chain in DHA.

Published in Dawn, November 15th, 2023