A Karachi city court on Wednesday sent a driver to jail on a 14-day judicial remand over a deadly accident that killed two people earlier this week.

On Monday evening, a speeding Toyota Land Cruiser, driven by Natasha Danish, hit three motorcycles and another car before overturning on the city’s Karsaz Road. Sixty-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter Amna were killed in the accident while three others were wounded.

Subsequently, the driver was arrested and booked for manslaughter charges.

However, on Tuesday, police failed to produce the suspect in court on the ground that she was undergoing psychiatric treatment at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC) while in custody. The investigation officer (IO) had sought a 14-day police remand for the suspect, but the court handed the suspect into police custody for one day.

Upon the court’s directives, the suspect was produced before a District East judicial magistrate today, where the police sought her 7-day physical remand.

The suspect was discharged from JPMC’s psychiatric ward, following which the police presented her before the court.

Imtiaz Arif, the complainant in the case, was present during the hearing with his counsel Barrister Aziz Ghouri.

One of the injured in the accident, whose Honda Civic car was damaged, also appeared before the court.

During the hearing, the suspect’s counsel argued that the charges against her client were bailable.

At this, IO Rehan Ahmed informed the court that the charge of section 322 (punishment for qatl-bis-sabab) of the Pakistan Penal Code had been added to the case, which he said was a non-bailable offence.

A counsel of the victim then called for a probe into the “kind of drug” that the suspect was allegedly under the influence of at the time of the accident.

The court then asked the suspect about her husband’s name, to which she responded. When asked if the police had subjected her to any kind of torture, she replied in the negative.

The court subsequently sent the suspect to jail on a 14-day judicial remand and directed the IO to produce a charge sheet on the next hearing.

The FIR

The FIR, a copy of which is available with Dawn.com, was filed at 11pm last night at the Bahadurabad police station on the complaint of Imtiaz Arif, whose brother and niece died in the accident.

The FIR invoked sections 320 (punishment for qatl-i-khata by rash or negligent driving), 337-G (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent driving), 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way), and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

According to the complaint, Arif was informed at around 6:45pm on Monday that his brother Imran Arif, who was riding a motorcycle along with his daughter Amna Arif, was met with an accident.

Upon reaching the JPMC, the complainant found out that the suspect, who was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser, had hit his brother’s motorcycle from behind.

“Abdussalam, son of Mohammad Ishaq, who was riding on the motorcycle was also injured,” the FIR stated, adding that Imran and his daughter got several injuries and passed away later.