Non-bailable manslaughter charge added to Karsaz accident case, court told

A judicial magistrate on Wednesday remanded a woman SUV driver to judicial custody in a case pertaining to Monday’s deadly accident near Karsaz that claimed the lives of two people.

The suspect was arrested after a 26-year-old MBA student, Amina, and her father Imran Arif, 60, were killed and another man, Abdul Salam, was seriously injured when a speeding luxury car driven by the woman rammed into motocycles near Karsaz within the limits of the Bahadurabad police station on Monday evening.

The woman was produced before Judicial Magistrate (East) Mohammad Raza Ansari at the City Courts on Wednesday. Clad in a black burqa, she was escorted to and from the packed courtroom by cops, including a lady constable. A large number of lawyers were present inside and outside the courtroom with some of them raising slogans against the suspect.

Imtiaz Arif, the complainant in the case, also appeared along with his counsel. The suspect's lawyer Amir Mansoob Qureshi was also present. During the hearing, the magistrate inquired the woman if she was maltreated by the police, to which she replied in the negative.

Though the IO formally requested a seven-day physical remand of the suspect for completion of the criminal record office (CRO) procedure, District Public Prosecutor Mohammad Younus stated that her custody was no longer required for further investigation. He, therefore, requested the magistrate to send the woman to jail on judicial remand.

The magistrate noted that initially, an FIR was lodged against the suspect under the sections 320 (punishment for qatl-i-khata by rash or negligent driving), 337-G (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent driving), 279 (rash driving or riding on a public way) and 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), all of which were bailable offences.

However, he added that during the course of investigation, the IO had added the Section 322 (manslaughter) of the PPC, which is a non-bailable offence. "As the IO as well as DPP have prayed that the accused's custody is no longer required for investigation purpose [and] in addition there appears no reasonable ground for sending the female accused to police custody," observed the magistrate, remanding her in judicial custody with a direction to the IO to submit an interim charge-sheet within the stipulated time of 14 days.

On Tuesday, a duty magistrate had granted the police one-day custody of the woman and ordered the IO to produce her before the relevant court on Wednesday. The IO couldn't produce the suspect before the magistrate on the ground that she was admitted to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre's psychiatry ward for detailed examination.

He had submitted a handwritten note by Dr Chooni Lal, head of the ward, who said: "Currently, she is confused and not in a good state of mind for appearing before the court and interrogation."

An FIR has been lodged at the Bahadurabad police station on the complaint of Imtiaz Arif, brother of the deceased man. The complainant stated in the FIR that he was a resident of Malir Cantonment. On Monday evening, he received a phone call informing him that his elder brother Imran had met an accident on Karsaz Road while he was travelling with his daughter Amina.

He rushed to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre where he came to know that his brother had died as a result of reckless driving by the woman who hit his motorcycle from behind. The FIR stated that both Imran and Amina received injuries in their head and other parts of the body, which caused their death.

Psychiatry report

The Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences of Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre submitted in a report on Wednesday that the woman jeep driver does not any psychiatric help.

Officials said Dr Chooni Lal, the incharge of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Sciences, JPMC/JSMU, had submitted the report to the JPMC executive director.

The report says the woman was brought to the Accident and Emergency Department of the JPMC in police custody on August 19, 2024, at 9:45pm after a road traffic accident. A call was sent by the Accident and Emergency Department to the Department of Psychiatry for her psychiatric evaluation because of her confused state, irritability and abnormal behaviour.

“On examination by the doctors on duty it was found that she was confused and behaving abnormally. Considering her current condition, seriousness of the incident and her past history of psychiatric illness as stated by her family members (though no past records have been provided), she was admitted in the Department of Psychiatry Vide CR# 33146 dated 19TH August 2024 at 11:20pm in order to prevent deliberate self-harm, risk of suicide or any other untoward event.

“We kept her under observation and on repeated mental state examination and relevant psychological scales it is found that there is no immediate deliberate self-harm or risk of suicide so she may be discharged from the Department of Psychiatry as there is no need of immediate psychiatric intervention at present.”

Justice to be ensured

The Sindh government will ensure that justice is served in the case of the father and daughter who lost their lives in the recent Karsaz road tragedy, Local Government Minister Saeed Ghani said on Wednesday.

The minister visited the residence of the deceased Imran Arif and Amna Arif in Scheme 33. He offered his condolences to Imran Arif’s son and other members of the bereaved family, assuring them that the provincial government would stand with them until justice is served in the case.

He also prayed for the soul of the departed. He obtained complete details of the incident from the bereaved family and talked to the relevant officials about the case.

He informed the bereaved family that Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has also taken serious notice of the Karsaz tragedy. He assured the bereaved family members that the provincial government would not allow injustice in the case.

Ghani said he had obtained all the pertinent details from the relevant doctors at the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. He said the police had been asked to compulsorily fulfil all the formalities of the law and justice in the case so that the accused driver is brought to justice without fail.

The LG minister was accompanied by Women Development Minister Shaheena Sher Ali, Pakistan Peoples Party District East President Iqbal Sandh, Senior Vice President Sarwar Khan Ghazi and District East Deputy Commissioner Shehzad Abbasi.