Noor Mukadam murder: Court rejects plea requesting Zahir Jaffer's mental assessment via medical board

• Judge expels media personnel from courtroom before Noor's CCTV footage is played.
  
• Public prosecutor opposes Zahir's application for the formation of a medical board.
• Zahir’s lawyer informs the court that his client is facing social media abuse.

ISLAMABAD: A sessions court on Wednesday rejected a plea for the assessment of accused Zahir Jaffer's mental health by a medical board in an ongoing hearing on the murder of Noor Mukadam.

Additional Sessions Judge Ata Rabbani pronounced the verdict, reserved earlier in the day, and rejected the plea.

Proceedings in the case have been adjourned till January 15.

During the hearing, CCTV footage of Noor on the day of the incident was played in the courtroom. Prior to it being played, the judge expelled media and additional lawyers from the courtroom.

The DVR of CCTV footage was de-sealed and questions regarding the CCTV footage's length and the memory capacity of the DVR — on which the footage was recorded — were asked.

Public prosecutor Hassan Abbas said that Zahir, during one of the hearings, had asked why Section 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of the offence, or giving false information to screen offender) was imposed on him.

He highlighted that Zakir Jaffer’s company is registered on Ahmed Jaffer’s name; however, Zahir’s picture has been used on the company profile.

The public prosecutor stated that the place where the incident took place is a branch office of the company.

Abbas also shed light on Zahir’s professional work and revealed that the main accused had been working as a child counsellor at a private school.

He urged the court to reject his request regarding the formation of a medical board to assess his mental health condition.

Meanwhile, Zahir’s lawyer informed the court that his client was facing social media abuse. 

Replying to the allegations, the counsel for Noor Mukadam's family, Advocate Shah Khawar, said that nothing of this sort was being done from their end.

After the hearing, the court reserved its judgment on the formation of the medical board, adjourning the session till January 15 (Saturday).

IHC adjourns hearing on plea of Therapy Works employee

Separately, the IHC adjourned till January 17 the hearing for a plea filed by a Therapy Works employee seeking legal action against Zahir and investigation officer Abdul Sattar.

Earlier, the trial court had dismissed the very same plea entered by Amjad, who is also an accused in the murder.

IHC’s Justice Aamer Farooq adjourned the case without further proceedings due to the absence of the petitioner’s lawyer.

The murder

The prime suspect in the murder of Noor Mukadam, Zahir, was formally charged for the crime by an Islamabad court in October 2021. Besides him, two of the family's employees — Jamil and Jan Mohammad — were also indicted, along with Zahoor.

Noor Mukadam, a 27-year-old woman, was murdered on July 20 within the limits of the ​Kohsar police station in Islamabad's F-7 area.

A case of murder was later registered at the same police station by Noor's father, former Pakistani ambassador Shaukat Ali Mukadam.

The Islamabad police arrested suspect Zahir on the night of July 20 from his house where, according to Noor's parents, he killed her with a sharp instrument and severed her head.

— With additional input from APP.