Daily Times

A Karachi district and sessions court on Thursday acquitted Natasha Danish in a murder case, which was filed against her over the Karsaz road accident in August, as a “compromise” pact between the parties was submitted in court.

On August 19, a speeding Toyota Land Cruiser, driven by Danish, hit three motorcycles and another car on Karsaz Road, killing 60-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter Amna, as well as wounding three others. The driver was arrested and booked for manslaughter charges.

Danish had already secured bail in the murder case on September 6 by a sessions court.

After her bail pleas in a separate drug case were dismissed twice by the lower courts, she approached the Sindh High Court, which approved it against surety bonds worth Rs1 million.

Advocate Amir Mansoob Qureshi, Danish’s lawyer, confirmed to the media that his client was acquitted by the sessions court “on the basis of compromise” between the two parties.

Speaking to reporters at the court, he said, “The court has accepted the compromise application and acquitted Natasha from this case.”

Expressing the hope for Danish’s acquittal in the drug case, he said: “If the principle offence was not [committed in the murder case], then there would not be predicate offence either [in the drug case].”

The suspect was not present during the hearing on Thursday.

Danish was arrested on the spot and booked on manslaughter charges after the August 19 accident on Karsaz Road, which killed a father and his daughter.

Later, Sindh Inspector General (IG) of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon said Danish’s medical report – conducted upon the request of the victims’ counsel – showed she was under the influence of narcotic methamphetamine (crystal meth) while driving.

Consequently, a separate first information report (FIR) was registered by the police against the driver under Section 11 (drinking liable to tazir) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (PEHO) of 1979.

On September 6, a sessions court had granted the suspect bail in the murder case after the victims’ family pardoned them “without any blood money”.

However, a judicial magistrate and a sessions court had separately rejected Danish’s bail pleas in the drug case.

Judicial Magistrate (East) Muhammad Raza Ansari had observed that her lawyer’s claim of the suspect’s blood and urine samples being manipulated was false. In the sessions court, state prosecutor Syed Khursheed Abbas Bukhari had opposed the bail application, arguing that the final charge sheet had yet to be submitted to the court.

Subsequently, through her lawyer, Danish had approached the SHC, where Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha approved her bail after hearing arguments from both sides.

Two days before the SHC hearing, the Karachi police had filed a charge sheet against Danish before the court of a judicial magistrate in the same case.