A judge handling the Mustafa Amir killing case has been deprived of administrative powers after a Supreme Court panel found irregularities in his decision to refuse the police in custody.
The order follows allegations of manipulation and judicial overreaction that trigger concerns about the insertion of the procedure reported Express News.
A two-member Sindh High Court bench, led by Justice Zafar Rajput, sent a detailed verdict in which he ordered Judge Zakir Hussain, ordering Judge Zakir Hussain to be removed from his administrative role.
The court found significant procedural violations, including incorrect handling of custody requests and unauthorized changes in official documents.
According to the order, the judge exceeded his authority by denying police custody of the defendants, Armaghan, despite investigators who provided evidence.
The decision was especially controversial when the judge initially approved the police’s custody prison, but later changed the order to legal detention by using correction fluid.
The Supreme Court’s decision highlighted serious lapse in case management, saying that Judge Hussain held the investigative officer and waited for three hours before verbally instructing him to conduct a medical examination of the defendant.
This delay, noticed the court, hindered the investigative process.
The verdict also pointed out that the judge placed an order for a joint investigative team (JIT) in the case – a decision that neither the prosecution nor the defense had requested.
The prosecution and police officers later challenged this directive and argued that it was issued without proper legal reasons.
A medical examination of Armaghan found injury tags on his lower body, forehead, ear and neck.
However, the legal medical officer report did not confirm whether these injuries were due to police torture.
The judge had quoted accusations of police brutality as a reason for refusing custody, but High Court found insufficient evidence to justify his decision.
Sindh High Court instructed Chief Justice and Home Secretary to award the judge’s administrative powers to another anti-terrorism court in public interest.
The verdict emphasized that the judges in the trial are responsible for High Court and must follow proper legal procedures when making decisions on custody and investigative orders.
The order also ordered copies of the decision to be sent to the functioning Chief Justice in Sindh and the provincial home secretary, ensuring that the case is formally reviewed at a higher legal level.
Mustafa Amir was abducted and murdered by Armaghan and Sheraz who kidnapped him from Karachi’s Defense Housing Authority (DHA) on January 6th. They later filled his body in the trunk of his car and put the vehicle in the driving force in Hub, Balochistan
After their arrest, both Armaghan and Sheraz admitted over the crime. During the interrogation, they revealed that they had taken the victim to Darji before setting the car on fire while still half -conscious.
