CJP takes notice of suspect's acquittal in Khadija stabbing case

ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday took notice of the acquittal of the main suspect earlier convicted for brutally attacking law student Khadija Siddiqui.

The chief justice has summoned the case’s record and other relevant documents at apex court’s Lahore Registry on Sunday June 10 and will hear the case himself. All relevant officials and others have also been directed to appear before the court.

On Monday, Justice Sardar Ahmad Naeem of the Lahore High Court acquitted the convict of all charges after accepting his appeal against the five-year reduced imprisonment by an sessions court in March this year.

Shah Hussain, son of an influential lawyer Tanver Hashmi and classmate of Khadija, was arrested from the court room last year and handed down a seven-year sentence.

On July 29, 2017, Judicial magistrate Mubashir Awan awarded a seven-year jail term to Shah Hussain after finding him guilty of stabbing the victim. However, an appellate court in March this year had reduced the jail term from seven to five years.

Khadija has decided to move the Supreme Court after LHC’s verdict to acquit the prime suspect on ground of lack of evidence. She had expressed shock over the verdict saying that ‘justice had been butchered’ over the acquittal.

Khadija Siddiqui, a student at a private law college, was attacked by her class fellow Shah Hussain on May 3, 2016 for reportedly rejecting a proposal.

Siddiqui had gone to pick her younger sister from school. Both sisters were about to get into their car when the accused attacked Khadija with a knife, stabbing her over 23 times.

Hussain’s father had attempted to coerce the complainant into withdrawing the case, but fighting against all odds, she stood her ground fighting for her rights.