The Lahore High Court has set aside an order directing the registration of a criminal case against Pakistan cricketer Babar Azam, accepting his petition against the decision of a justice of the peace.<\/p>\n
In an eight-page written verdict, Justice Asjad Javed Ghural ruled that the order to lodge an FIR against the former Pakistan captain was not in accordance with the law. The court observed that the justice of the peace had issued the directive without proper scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Babar Azam had challenged the justice of the peace\u2019s order, which had been issued on a complaint filed by a woman, Hamiza Mukhtar. The complainant had alleged that the cricketer maintained a relationship with her for several years on the promise of marriage.<\/p>\n
According to the court\u2019s written judgment, the complainant claimed that the relationship lasted nearly eight years and that she became pregnant in 2015, alleging that the pregnancy was later terminated.<\/p>\n
She also accused Babar Azam of receiving a substantial amount of money and subsequently refusing to marry her.<\/p>\n
After hearing detailed arguments from both sides and examining the available record, the court held that the allegations did not appear credible on the face of it. The judgment noted that the prolonged delay in bringing forward the claims raised serious questions, terming an eight-year silence as an unusual circumstance.<\/p>\n
The court further observed that a mere assertion of a promise to marry could not justify such a delay, adding that no concrete evidence had been presented to substantiate the allegations.<\/p>\n
Consequently, the high court declared the justice of the peace\u2019s order null and void, effectively blocking the registration of a case against Babar Azam.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Lahore High Court has set aside an order directing the registration of a criminal case against Pakistan cricketer Babar Azam, accepting his petition against the decision of a justice of the peace. In an eight-page written verdict, Justice Asjad Javed Ghural ruled that the order to lodge an FIR against the former Pakistan captain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":72095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,136],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[213],"class_list":{"0":"post-73168","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest","8":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n