Karsaz accident accused acquitted after out-of-court settlements

A female SUV driver who had been arrested after her rash driving resulted in the deaths of a man and his daughter on Karsaz Road was acquitted in the accident case on Thursday after a sessions court accepted the out-of-court settlement between her and the victims' legal heirs.

However, the woman's application seeking acquittal in a drug case will come up for hearing before a judicial magistrate on November 2 (tomorrow).

On August 19, a speeding luxury car driven by the woman had rammed into three motorcycles and another car before overturning on Karsaz Road, killing Imran Arif and his daughter Amna, and injuring two others.

She was charge-sheeted in two separate cases — one lodged under rash driving and manslaughter charges, while the other under the Section 11 (drinking liable to tazir) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (PEHO) 1979 after her medical report confirmed that she was under the influence of methamphetamine, also known as ice or crystal meth, at the time of the accident.

On Thursday, Additional Sessions Judge (East) Shahid Ali Memon announced his order on applications jointly filed by the accused as well as legal heirs of the deceased and injured persons under the sections 345(2) and 345(6) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, requesting the court to accept their out-of-court settlement.

The judge accepted the compromise between the parties and acquitted the accused.

"The applications under Section 345(2) of CrPC is hereby allowed and formal permission is hereby accorded for compounding the offence," ruled the judge. "Resultantly, the application under Section 345(6) of CrPC is allowed and thereby the compromise between the parties is accepted. As such the accused is hereby acquitted in the instant case/crime U/S 345(6) of CrPC."

The accused appeared in the court on bail. Imtiaz Arif, the complainant in the case and brother of deceased Imran, along with Romana Imran, the widow of Imran, and their children Umama Arif and Osama Arif, as well as Shane Alexander and Abdul Salam, who were injured in the accident, filed their separate affidavits along with the applications, stating that they had forgiven the accused in the name of Almighty Allah.

They added that the accident was unintentional and that they had “amicably resolved the matter.”

Separately, the accused has filed an application before the judicial magistrate XI (East) under the Section 249-A of the CrPC seeking acquittal in the drug case. The application is fixed for hearing on November 2.

In her application, the woman contended that she was the victim of circumstances and absolutely innocent as she had been falsely implicated in the case with mala fide intentions. She said that the drug FIR was lodged after a delay of 11 days in utter disregard of the law.

The applicant argued that a separate FIR, which was the outcome of the same incident that had already been reported to the police, was illegal and unlawful and violation of the Supreme Court's landmark judgement in the Sughara Bibi case. "Any subsequent information relating to the same incident should not result in a new FIR, but instead it should be treated as part of the ongoing investigation under the existing FIR so as to avoid abuse of process of law and to prevent multiplicity of litigation and harassment of the accused," she added.

The woman pleaded with the magistrate to acquit her in the case to "save her from unnecessary harassment and abuse of the process of the court". Initially, an FIR was lodged at the Bahadurabad police station under the sections 320 (punishment for causing death by rash or negligent driving), 337-G (punishment for hurt by rash or negligent driving), 279 (rash driving), and 427 (mischief causing damage) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

Later, the investigation officer added the Section 322 (manslaughter) of the PPC and Section 100 (driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol) of the Provincial Motor Vehicles Ordinance 1965 to the case. A separate case was registered under the Section 11 (drinking liable to tazir) of the PEHO 1979.