Zain Murder: Lahore High Court Seeks Departure Record Of Mustafa Kanju

Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Monday adjourning appeal against acquittal of accused in Zain murder case sought departure record of Mustafa Kanju, son of former state minister Siddique Kanju.

LAHORE, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 19th Mar, 2018 ) :Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Monday adjourning appeal against acquittal of accused in Zain murder case sought departure record of Mustafa Kanju, son of former state minister Siddique Kanju.

The bench comprising Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Shehram Sarwar Ch passed the orders while hearing appeal filed by the Punjab Government against acquittal of the accused including Mustafa Kanju in Zain Murder Case.

During proceedings,Additional Prosecutor General Punjab Abdul Samad apprised the bench that Mustafa Kanju and three other accused failed to appear despite being summoned by the court. However, defence counsel submitted that Kanju had gone abroad whereas three accused including Sadiq, Akram and Asif Rehman were present in Lucky Marwat and they would be produced on next date of hearing.

Court directed CCPO Lahore to present departure record of Kanju while adjourning the further hearing. The prosecution department had submitted that the trial court decided the acquittal application of the respondent (Kanju) in haste without examining facts of the case.

The trial court did not record statements of police witnesses who had recovered a Kalashnikov, the murder weapon, from the suspect, it added. The department submitted that the trial court had accepted the acquittal application of the suspect solely on the basis of some prosecution witnesses' retraction of their statements.

On October 27, 2016, an anti-terrorism court had acquitted Mustafa Kanju and his guards of charges of murdering 16-year-old Zain and injuring another person.