ISLAMABAD: A Session court here that has been conducting the trial of Noor murder case, has once again sought additional time to conclude the case.

According to a letter written by Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Atta Rabbani to the Islamabad High Court (IHC) stated that a number of factors made it impossible for the court to wrap up the case within the deadline extension.

Judge Rabbani stated in the letter that the court had to schedule the hearing dates as per the availability of the counsels for the prime accused Zahir Jaffer as they were all based outside of Islamabad.

The judge also explained in the letter that it took a lot of the court’s time in recording statements of 17 witnesses in the case whereas the defense counsels cross-examined almost all of them.

Besides, another reason mentioned in the letter for not being able to conclude the case within the stipulated time of two months was that the court heard various other petitions which consumed the court’s time.

The Judge apprised the Islamabad High Court in the said letter that the the cross-examination had been completed after the statements of the prosecution witnesses.

He requested the Islamabad High Court to give additional ‘appropriate time’ for concluding the case as two stages of the trial were yet to be completed, including handing over of questionnaire to the accused’s lawyers under section 342, and the final arguments in the case.

It is pertinent to mention here that when the suspects were indicted in the murder case on 14th day of October, 2021, the Islamabad High Court had directed the trial court to conclude the case within two months.

However, upon a request filed by the trial judge for extension, the Islamabad High Court had extended the deadline to the end of January.

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