LAHORE: The police added terrorism and murder charges to the already registered case against a teenage boy whose rashly-driven car had hit a vehicle, leading to deaths of six members of a family, including two children, some days back in Defence Housing Authority (DHA), Lahore.
The tragic incident had also led the head of the family to traumatic stress when he saw his wife Rukhsana Bibi (45), son Husnain (25), daughter-in-law Ayesha (23), son-in-law Sajjad (30), four-month-old grandson Huzaifa, and granddaughter Anaya (4) in a pool of blood.
Car driver Afnan Shafqat, who was overpowered by the locals on the spot, appeared to be a teen and the police had arrested and booked him soon after the incident.
He is on judicial remand and victim family’s head Rafaqat Ali had expressed his utter disappointment over the sections invoked in the FIR alleging that the boy had targeted his family members, killing six of them over a grudge.
Underage driver accused of harassing women family members prior to the incident
Mr Rafaqat claimed that the boy was not alone at the time when he ‘deliberately’ hit the car of his family while driving his four-wheeler at high speed (over 100 km/h) at Phase-VII.
Rafaqat alleged that his two other accomplices were also accompanying him in the car at the time of the incident.
The prime suspect had a prior altercation with his family members when they chased his car on the road, he said, demanding addition of more sections to the FIR to punish all the suspects.
“We have added anti-terrorism act (ATA) and murder sections to the case,” Kahna Circle DSP Raja Fakhar told Dawn on Thursday.
He said according to the victim family’s head [complainant], two more suspects were present in the Afnan’s car.
The DSP said the police would send notices to the other two suspects too to appear before the investigation team.
Quoting some witnesses and the family’s head, he said the boy was chasing them and on interruption at a point he had threatened the family that he would not let them drive in DHA’s jurisdiction, another act that reflected his ‘mindset’.
According to the head of the family, the prime suspect allegedly harassed the female members [prior to the incident] when they were going back to their home after meeting a close relative in two cars, the DSP said.
On an occasion, he added, the victim family’s male members had stopped the car and warned the suspect of reporting the matter to the police for harassing the women.
There were reports that the boy had confessed to his crime of driving recklessly after the incident.
The episode also highlighted the matter of underage driving in Lahore, particularly in the posh areas like DHA, prompting the traffic police high-ups to kick off a new campaign against teenage drivers. Meanwhile, the Lahore chief traffic officer (CTO) said police lodged 998 cases against underage drivers during the last three days and sent many of them behind bars, besides seizing their vehicles, including motorbikes.
He said the action was taken in the wake of the DHA road accident that took place on Saturday last.
Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2023
