PESHAWAR: A court acquitted a 14-year-old boy accused of rash driving resulting in deaths of two persons on Peshawar’s University Road a year ago.

An additional sessions judge, Attaullah Jan, ruled the prosecution failed to prove its case against the accused, who was charged with unintentional murder of two men near Islamia College Peshawar.

Defence counsel Nouman Muhib Kakakhel argued that a video of the occurrence had gone viral on social media. He contended that the prosecution witnesses agreed there was a video of the accident, whereas the same was not brought on record.

He argued there were seven to eight persons shown coming out of the vehicle in question, which the prosecution claimed was driven by the accused, but the forensic of the video was not available with regard to identity of the driver.

Mr Kakakhel stated one of the deceased was coming via the wrong way without a helmet on a motorcycle, who sustained head injuries, which was the cause of his death, whereas the second deceased fell victim to the first accident.

The counsel argued the minor accused was arrested 10 days before he was charged in the case and had been kept in illegal detention.

He argued there was no evidence connecting the accused with the case, hence he be acquitted of the charges.

Published in Dawn, May 9th, 2024