• Lawyer contends that prosecution’s case is not against Sameena Shah.
• Counsel says his client has been added because of plaintiff’s insistence.
• Sameena’s involvement was not mentioned in police report, lawyer tells court.

ISLAMABAD: Shahnawaz Amir’s mother Sameena Shah has approached the court to get discharged from the case registered against her and her son for the murder of Sarah Inam.

Shah had appeared before sessions judge Ata Rabbani along with her lawyer for the application she has filed seeking to be discharged from the murder case before the indictment.

Her lawyer, Nasir Asghar, told the court that the police wrote in its challan that his client was found at the crime scene but did not mention her involvement.

“When the prosecution’s case is not against her then she should be discharged from the case,” Asghar told the court. He added that the court will have to make its final opinion after looking at the challan.

Shah’s lawyer also told the court that when the police arrived at the crime scene she handed her son to the law enforcement agency.

“The only reason given is that the plaintiff is insisting [on adding her name],” said the lawyer. He added that apart from this there was nothing against his client.

At this point, the court adjourned the hearing after the lawyer of the plaintiff could not reach the court.

Sameena Shah arrested

In October, the Islamabad Police arrested Sameena after a court dismissed her bail plea.

Police Station Shehzad Town’s personnel arrested the accused outside the courtroom after she appeared before the judge with her lawyer.

Sameena’s son, the main accused Shahnawaz Amir, allegedly killed his wife Sarah Inam at home after a row over a family issue on September 23.

Shahnawaz — who was detained by the police from a farmhouse in Islamabad’s Chak Shahzad area for being a suspect in his wife’s murder — confessed to committing the crime and said that he “thought” his spouse was having an affair with someone else. The couple was married for just three months.

Police registered a first information report (FIR) on the complaint of Station House Officer (SHO) Nawazish Ali Khan under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

The FIR mentioned that the suspect’s mother, Sameena, called the police on Friday (September 23) to inform them that her son, Shahnawaz, had killed his wife with a dumbbell.

According to the FIR, Sameena told the police that her son was in the house and had hidden the body of his wife. Following this, the police raided the house.

In the complaint, the police said that Shahnawaz had locked himself inside his room and when the personnel broke inside, there were blood spots on his hands and clothes.

Once the police got hold of Shahnawaz, he, according to the FIR, confessed to hitting his wife repeatedly with a dumbbell during an argument and then later hiding the Canadian national’s body in the bathtub.

The “murder weapon”, the FIR quoted Shahnawaz as saying, was hidden under his bed.