A friend of the woman, identified in the FIR as Zahir Zakir, was arrested over his alleged involvement in the murder, with police saying he is the son of “a leading businessman of the country”.While addressing a press conference to address what he said were different claims on social media about the killing, SSP (Investigation) Ataur Rehman was asked about the widely rumoured drug abuse history of the suspect, Zahir.response, SSP Rehman said while the drug usage was not the domain of the police investigation, “when we arrested him, he was sound and in his senses. He may have had a past history [of taking drugs] but at least at this time he was completely in his senses.”
He emphasised that police were focusing on the suspect’s “mental frame of mind” and that initial findings indicated the suspect was completely aware of his actions when he allegedly committed the murder.Regarding his mental health history, the SSP said the police investigation “has nothing to do with that” and was being pursued from the angle of whether the act was justified or not — “which it completely wasn’t”.
The senior police officer said the suspect was tied with ropes by some people whom he had attacked after killing Noor, before police arrived at the scene.Police had initially said the victim was shot at before being “slaughtered”. Another person was also injured in the incident.But SSP Rehman said while a pistol had been found at the suspect’s house, the initial investigation and medical report did not show a firearm injury in the incident. He added that a bullet was stuck in the pistol’s chamber at the time it was recovered.
According to SSP Rehman, police had been alerted to the incident by a local resident and immediately reached the crime scene since the police station was “hardly at a distance of 10 minutes” from the house. said police had acted swiftly, immediately arresting the suspect and covering the crime scene, while evidence was collected by the forensic science agency. “This way we have made the full effort that not a single piece of evidence is destroyed,” he added.
He told the presser that the inspector general of police had visited the victim’s family and the crime scene, and that he had constituted a special team for the case — led by SSP Rehman himself.this brutal murder finally be a moment of introspection for our society, especially men, to look inwards and ask why we condone those indulging in physical and emotional abuse of women and not call them out? Why is it that our response on witnessing signs of disturbance is to either look away or see violent behaviour against women as ‘private’ matter, regardless of the potentially fatal dangers involved, instead of standing up for the woman? It is unclear at the moment whether Noor’s murder was premeditated or an act of unjustifiable rage. If it is the former, then the ring of suspects should be widened to include possible abettors. Another troubling revelation has been that the accused had reportedly become a mental health counsellor after first seeking therapy for his mental health issues. While mental health is a delicate subject which does not receive the attention it deserves in this country, this also raises questions about regulating the mushrooming private therapy sector in the country.Every time a woman is raped or murdered or harassed or brutalized in any fashion, the constant refrain over social media in the face of justifiable outrage is that if women adhered to some pre-decided code of conduct, they would stay safe.
