Noor Mukadam, a 27-year-old woman, was found murdered at Zahir Jaffar’s residence in Islamabad’s upscale Sector F-7/4 on July 20, 2021. Zahir Jaffar was the primary accused and was arrested at the site of the murder.
On the same day, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Noor’s father, Shaukat Mukadam, a retired diplomat.
On February 24, 2022, an Islamabad sessions court sentenced Zahir Jaffar to death and awarded 10 years imprisonment to two co-accused Mohammad Iftikhar and Jan Mohammad.
However, Zahir Jaffar’s parents and TherapyWorks personnel, who had been indicted by an Islamabad district and sessions court in October 2021, were later acquitted by the sessions court when Zahir was sentenced.
Zahir Jaffar had challenged his death sentence in March 2022, but the Islamabad High Court (IHC) upheld the death sentence and converted Zahir’s 25-year jail term into another death penalty.
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Zahir Jaffar then filed a petition with the Supreme Court (SC) of Pakistan, naming the state and Noor’s father Shaukat Mukadam as respondents, requesting the apex court to set aside the IHC’s verdict “in the interest of justice” and to acquit him of his charges.
The petition argued that Zahir Jaffar’s conviction resulted from “erroneous appreciation” of the case evidence, and the high court and trial court could not identify the “fundamental flaws” in the FIR.
It also argued that Shaukat Mukadam could not be treated as the “first informant” of the incident since there was no clarity in the prosecution’s case regarding who informed first about the crime.
Furthermore, the petition argued that Shaukat Mukadam had “visibly misused the criminal machinery with malafide intentions and ulterior motives after seeking professional advice”.
The plea also argued that the acquittal of eight accused in the case undermined the veracity and truthfulness of Noor’s father and the prosecution evidence.
The petition added that Zahir Jaffar’s mental and psychological issues were not properly regarded, and no thorough investigation was carried out to rule out his mental fitness.
The case was prejudiced against Zahir Jaffar because he could not effectively defend himself or join the criminal investigation, he was unable to understand and comprehend the allegations against him and the charges framed, and he was not able to engage a counsel of his choice.
Moreover, he could not lead the defence evidence, the courts did not rule out his mental fitness to stand trial, and no thorough examination was carried out by mental health specialists, according to the petition.
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After the FIR was registered, Zahir Jaffar’s parents and household staff were also taken into custody by police on July 24, 2021, over allegations of “hiding evidence and being complicit in the crime”. They were made a part of the investigation based on Noor’s father’s statement.
In his complaint, Shaukat Mukadam stated that he had gone to Rawalpindi on July 19, 2021, to buy a goat for Eidul Azha, while his wife had gone out to pick up clothes from her tailor. When he returned home in the evening, the couple found their daughter Noor absent from their house in Islamabad.
We hope that Noor continues to get the justice she deserves.
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