Bail plea admitted in Hina murder case

Additional District and Sessions Judge Naseer Ahmed has admitted for hearing the bail application of Zeeshan Arshad, a domestic worker arrested in the brutal murder case of digital designer Hina Javed, and issued a notice to the victim's party. The court adjourned the hearing until Sept 19 and directed the accused, complainant's lawyers and prosecutor to present their arguments. It also ordered the SHO of the Civil Lines police station to submit the complete record, forensic laboratory report and post-mortem report. The court also expressed displeasure over two separate bail applications filed by two lawyers on behalf of the accused, saying that the hearing should be conducted on a single application. The court questioned how two separate powers of attorney of the same accused from Adiala Jail had been biometrically verified and sought a report on the matter. It also sought an explanation as to how the accused had been allowed to have two separate lawyers file bail applications from jail. Advocates Hamza Abbasi and Junaid Hassan appeared before the court with their respective powers of attorney and filed separate bail applications. The two applications also contained different positions. The court issued a notice to the superintendent of Adiala Jail and sought a report. Meanwhile, accused Zeeshan Arshad has denied the police investigation, including the questioning during his 10-day physical remand and the alleged recovery of the murder weapon. He said he had not given any statement to police during his arrest and that no murder weapon had been recovered from him. He said that if the police had done so, the entire process was fabricated and false and amounted to one-sided police action.