SC transfers appeal against acquittal of Khadija’s attacker to Justice Khosa

LAHORE: Justice Asif Saeed Khosa will hear the appeal against Lahore High Court’s (LHC) acquittal of a man earlier convicted for brutally attacking law student Khadija Siddiqui with a knife.

The decision came as Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Mian Saqib Nisar on Sunday headed a two-judge bench at the apex court’s Lahore Registry regarding a suo motu case against the acquittal of Shah Hussain, the accused in Khadija stabbing case.

The CJP had summoned the case's record on Tuesday, a day after Justice Sardar Ahmed Naeem of the LHC, through a short order, acquitted Shah Hussain of all charges after accepting his appeal against the five-year sentence handed to him by a sessions court.

During the hearing of the case today, the CJP questioned Hussain's father, "How did you run a campaign against the apex court and pass a resolution against it?"

Justice Nisar's comments came in regards to a unanimous Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) resolution passed by Hussain's father against the CJP's suo motu notice of the acquittal.  

"Had something similar happened to the daughter of a lawyer, would your attitude have been the same?" the CJP further asked him.

Khadija, who appeared before the Lahore registry today, took the rostrum and said, “I have become a target of character assassination."

"Justice should be served in my case,” she asserted.

The LHC verdict in the case had shocked the nation that had supported the law student's fight for justice after being stabbed 23 times.

After the verdict which give the attacker a clean chit, Khadija had announced that she would challenge it in the top court.

Confident that justice will be done: Khadija

Speaking to the media after the hearing, Khadija thanked all those who rallied behind her.

"The CJP has taken notice and I am confident that justice will be done," she said while speaking to journalists outside the court along with her counsels.

Wasn’t proven convict in case: Shah Hussain

Shah Hussain while speaking to the media outside the court said that it is his right to file an appeal.

“The court acquitted me,” he said while stating the case is now closed.

“I was not proven a convict in the case,” Hussain further upheld.

Hussain continued, “I was not allowed to speak in my defence and if they have any evidence against me then they should present it in court.”

The case

On July 29, 2017, a court in the provincial capital of Punjab sentenced the main accused, Shah Hussain, for stabbing Khadija. The attacker had managed to flee from the scene of the crime but was captured on a mobile camera by an eyewitness.

Khadija was saved by her driver, who had tried to overpower the attacker, forcing him to flee from the scene on May 3, 2016.

Last year, a local court sentenced Shah to seven years in prison, which was later reduced to five by a district and sessions court on March 30, this year.