The Supreme Court on Monday resumed hearing the appeal filed by Zahir Jafar, the main convict in the Noor Muqaddam murder case, challenging his death sentence.
During the proceedings, defense lawyer Salman Safdar argued that the entire prosecution case rests on CCTV footage and DVR recordings, and claimed that no concrete forensic or eyewitness evidence was presented; all the evidence was incidental. He further questioned the post-mortem report, stating it did not mention any wound marks or the size of the injuries, calling the credibility of the medical findings into question.
Justice Hashim Kakar expressed strong concerns over the line of defense, asking: “A girl was brutally murdered in the presence of six to seven people. Are you trying to make an unnatural death controversial?”
Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim added that all the facts are known to the parties and that "the real trial is for the judges."
The defense maintained that Zahir was sentenced to death for murder, life imprisonment for rape, and 10 years for kidnapping. However, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) later increased the rape sentence to death, arguing that the trial court had not provided sufficient reasons for awarding a lesser sentence.
Defense highlights alleged gaps in investigation
Advocate Salman Safdar pointed out multiple issues in the investigation, including:
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The initial FIR was only for murder, with rape and kidnapping charges added 22 days later.
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No fingerprints of the accused were found on the alleged murder weapon, a small knife.
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No eyewitnesses were presented, and all prosecution witnesses except the complainant, Shaukat Muqaddam, were government officials.
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The photogrammetric test and CCTV footage were heavily relied upon.
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The mental health of the accused was not properly examined at any stage, and no medical board was constituted to assess his psychological condition.
The defense argued that Zahir was mentally unfit during the incident and throughout the trial, but the trial court failed to evaluate his mental state adequately. However, Justice Hashim Kakar remarked that such issues should have been raised during the trial, not at the appellate stage.
The lawyer said that the medical history of the accused from 2013 to date had been presented in court, adding that the scene of the incident was the accused's house, but no evidence had been presented to prove this. He further argued that according to the record, the incident took place at 10pm, and a murder case was registered at 11:30pm. The postmortem was conducted at 9:30am, according to which Noor Muqaddam died at 12:10pm the night before, Salman Safdar said.
"Amjad, one of the injured in the incident, was made an accused by the police instead of a witness," he remarked, adding that the prime accused, Zahir Jaffer, had denied all three charges of kidnapping, rape, murder when they were framed.
The court also discussed the role of owner and employees of the therapy clinic, which had been accused by Noor's father, Shaukat Muqaddam, of concealing facts.
The hearing was adjourned until Tuesday, with Zahir Jafar’s counsel expected to continue his arguments.
