In an interesting observation, the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday said that the days of witnesses were gone as nowadays forensic reports were enough to prove somebody guilty in a case, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin of the SC made these remarks during the hearing of a bail petition filed by former SSP 

Mufakhar Adeel in the murder case of former assistant advocate general (AAG) Shahbaz Tatla.

A three-member bench of the apex court, headed by Justice Ijazul Ahsan, which heard the case, also threw out the bail application filed by the former SSP when the latter told the court that he was no more interested in seeking bail.

Advocate Azam Nazir Tarar, on the occasion, told the court that Tatla was murdered in a very brutal fashion, while counsel for the suspect Chaudhry Ramzan said that of the 32 witnesses in the case, statements of only 13 had been recorded so far.

Justice Amin remarked witnesses or no witnesses, proofs against the former SSP are quite solid and irrefutable.

Justice Ijazul Ahsan said that Mufakhar Adeel, who was an officer of the SSP rank, had even fled after murdering Tatla.

However, Adeel’s counsel retorted that his client had not escaped but was on duty in Gilgit-Baltistan. Advocate Tarar, on the other hand, argued that everything, including former SSP’s mobile phone, his location and his act of purchasing an acid, was on record.

And when former SSP’s counsel complained that there had been no progress in the case for the last one year, Justice Ijazul Ahsan asked him that if he withdraws bail application of his client, the court will issue directives for speeding up inquiry in the case.

Mufakhar Adeel, resident of Lahore, after killing his friend Shahbaz Tatla in February 2020, had dipped his body in an acid and then threw it in gutter.

Reporter Amanat Gishkori