KARACHI, Dec 16: Bilal Khar, son of a former Punjab governor Malik Ghulam Mustafa Khar, was acquitted by the district and sessions court, South, on Tuesday in the acid-throwing case.

Judge Bin Yamin exonerated him from all charges on an application, filed for his acquittal by defence counsel Shahadat Awan under Section 265-K of the Criminal Procedure Code.

Bilal Khar, a former member of the Punjab Assembly, was prosecuted on the charge of throwing acid on his wife, Ms Fakhira, in May 2000. He was booked by the Napier police in the same month on a complaint lodged by Shahida Malik, mother-in-law of Ms Fakihra’s sister, Ms Kiran.

The complainant had accused Bilal Khar of visiting his estranged wife at her apartment at about 2.30pm on May 14, 2000 and throwing acid at her before fleeing the flat. Some other relatives were present at the apartment and one of them, Irfan Malik, got injured in the attack, the complainant had claimed. Irfan Malik is the husband of Ms Fakhira’s sister, Ms Kiran.

Bilal Khar was arrested on November 1, 2002 in Muzaffargarh and bailed out on March 22, 2003.

The court exonerated him as the prosecution could not bring on record any incriminating evidence. The prosecution had suffered a major blow during the trial when the complainant and Irfan Malik, appearing as prosecution witnesses, deposed that the defendant was not the man who had thrown acid.

Earlier, the first two prosecution witness, Ms Kiran, and her brother-in-law, Amir Malik, were declared hostile on the plea that Bilal Khar was not the attacker.

The defence counsel argued that all four witnesses, examined so far by the prosecution, had turned hostile and none of them had involved his client in the case.

Moreover, it has been reported that Ms Fakhira is out of the country and there is no likelihood that she would be available for evidence in future, he submitted.

The counsel contended that it was a case of political victimization as the accused belonged to a political family opposed to the government.

The defence counsel stated that the trial of the accused would be an exercise in futility in these circumstance and that the present proceedings were unnecessary harassment being caused to the accused and an abuse of the process of law.

The district attorney, Abdur Rehman Baloch, vehemently opposed the acquittal application and submitted that it was premature to decide the case as medico-legal officers and other prosecution witnesses were yet to be examined.

He submitted that the victim woman was the prime witness for the prosecution and her deposition was yet to be recorded.