A sessions court in Islamabad Thursday sentenced main accused Zahir Jaffer to death for beheading Noor Mukadam.
Additional District & Sessions Judge Muhammad Ata Rabbani, who conducted a thorough trial for months, also gave 25-year rigorous imprisonment to Zahir with a fine of Rs0.2 million for raping, 10-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs0.1 million for kidnapping, and one-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs0.1 million for wrongfully confining the victim.
The court also directed the main accused to pay Rs0.5 million as compensation to Noor’s family.
The judge also sentenced Zahir’s domestic servants Muhammad Iftikhar (watchman) and Muhammad Jan (gardener) to 10-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs0.1 million each for concealing the accused’s design of abduction, and then assisting and facilitating Zahir in abducting Noor.
They were also given 10-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs0.1 million each for keeping Noor in wrongful confinement and seven-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs0.1 million each for concealing the plan of murder and rape, besides one-month simple imprisonment for not informing the police about the incident that happened at Zahir’s house. The court, however, acquitted all the other persons nominated in the case, including Zahir’s parents, and the owner of Therapy Works.
According to the detailed verdict, the prosecution failed to establish its case against Zahir’s father Zakir Jaffer, mother Asmat Adamjee, cook Jameel Ahmed, and Therapy Works owner Tahir Zahoor and employees Dileep Kumar, Wamiq Riaz, Abdul Haq, Samar Abbas, and Amjad Mehmood.
The court ordered release of Zakir Jaffer, who was in jail, and discharge surety bonds of all others as they were on bail.
It may be added that the court had clearly mentioned in its written order that contrary to the allegations leveled by the defence lawyers, the forensic report detected no drugs or poison in the liver and stomach contents of Noor’s body.
The court also established that modern scientific and forensic evidences plainly proved that Noor Mukadam was killed by Zahir Jaffer inside his room.
On July 20, 2020, 27-year-old Noor was found murdered at Zahir’s house situated in Sector F-7/4, Islamabad.
The police arrested Zahir Jaffer, who is a 30-year-old dual Pakistan-US national, from the crime scene. A first information report was lodged against him under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of Noor’s father, Shaukat Mukadam, who is a retired diplomat.
As investigations into the matter proceeded, the police also arrested Zahir’s parents and three domestic servants four days after the incident for hiding evidence and being complicit in the crime.
On October 14 last year, the court indicted main accused Zahir Jaffer and 11 co-accused, including his parents (Zakir and Asmat), three domestic servants (Iftikhar, Jameel, and Jan), the owner of Therapy Works Tahir Zahoor and his five employees Amjad, Dilip Kumar, Abdul Haq, Wamiq and Samar Abbas.
During the investigation, the police learnt that Zahir Jaffer subjected Noor to brutal torture with knuckleduster before beheading her.
The murder had sparked anger all across the country where people from all walks of life had been demanding timely justice for the deceased Noor.
The trial of the murder case formally began on October 20 last year and continued for almost five months.
Noor’s father Shaukat Mukadam, while talking to the media outside the courtroom, hailed the court’s verdict and termed it a victory for the justice and for “all the daughters of the nation.”
