CJP Nisar takes notice of LHC’s acquittal of Khadija’s attacker

LAHORE: Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Tuesday took suo moto notice of Khadija Siddiqui’s attacker Shah Hussain’s acquittal and summoned all the record of the case from the Lahore High Court (LHC).

Earlier, the knife-attack victim alleged that Punjab Governor Rafique Rajwana pressurised her to compromise with Hussain.

During an interview on a private news channel, Siddiqui said the governor directly approached her, “He told me that the attacker is now guilty and facing jail time so I should compromise and let him go as his future will be destroyed,” adding that “I was shocked by these demands of Rajwana who himself is a lawyer”.

“If they can convince the Punjab governor, they can easily pressurise the LHC judge,” she added.

During the interview, Siddiqui further revealed that a sessions judge called her in his chamber and asked her to forgive Hussain.

“I was in a state of shock when I was told this and for the next few days I wondered how a judge can say something like this to me,” Siddiqui said, adding that this was mentioned in front of the criminal’s father.

“Upon my refusal, the judge stated that people do compromise even in the murder cases while your case is relatively a ‘small one’,” she stated. “I told him that this is not the case as I now represent the women in our society.”

On Monday, LHC acquitted the attacker of Siddiqui, Hussain, who had stabbed Siddiqui 23 times in broad daylight back in May 2016.

Hussain, who had been sentenced to five years in jail by a session court on charges of stabbing Siddiqui, was set free by the LHC which had earlier reserved their decision on the case.

The LHC, last Friday, had decided to hear the appeal filed by convict Hussain asking for the suspension of his five-year imprisonment in order to be released on bail and serve the remaining sentence out of jail. The appeal was being heard by Justice Sardar Naeem Ahmad. Before this, the session court where the case had first been taken had cut the already reduced sentence from seven years to five years.

The legal team of Siddiqui led by Hassan Niazi have confirmed to Pakistan Today that they will take the matter to the Supreme Court (SC), vowing that they would not rest until justice would be done.