A sessions court in Karachi on Friday granted bail to Natasha Danish — the driver booked in the Karsaz accident case last month — and her husband on manslaughter charges after the counsel to the victims’ family said that they had pardoned them and removed their objections.
On August 19, a speeding Toyota Land Cruiser, driven by Natasha, hit three motorcycles and another car before overturning on the city’s Karsaz Road.
Sixty-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter Amna were killed in the accident, while three others were wounded. Subsequently, Natasha was booked and arrested.
Police then formed a special investigation team to probe the accident registered against the suspect. During the course of investigation, the driver’s husband, Danish Iqbal, had also been named as suspect, although he was later granted a seven-day protective pre-arrest bail by the Sindh High Court.
On August 28, Sindh Inspector General (IG) of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon told Dawn.com that Natasha was under the influence of narcotic methamphetamine (crystal meth) while driving.
Consequently, a separate first information report (FIR) was registered by the police against Natasha under Section 11 (drinking liable to tazir) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (PEHO) of 1979.
Natasha was then granted bail in the accident case by the courts but, she would remain under custody until the conclusion of the narcotics case.
According to defence counsel, Advocate Amir Mansoob Qureshi, Natasha and her husband’s bails were set for Rs100,000 and Rs50,000 respectively.
The hearing for the narcotics case is set for Monday.
‘No blood money paid’
The aggrieved party’s lawyer, Barrister Aziz Ghouri, denied that diyat (blood money) was paid to the family, saying that the suspect was pardoned “in the name of Allah”.
“[They have forgiven the suspect] out of court in the name of Allah”, according to the affidavit that has come forward,“ he said.
“They (the family) are saying that they have forgiven because those who forgive have the highest stature,” he added as he denied reports of any monetary settlement between the two parties.
Meanwhile, defence counsel Qureshi said he was “not aware” of any compensation provided to the victims’ family.
He said that the courts had not placed any travel restrictions on Natasha and that his client was free to leave the country if she wanted.
The lawyer also said that the matter stood resolved because the family had issued a pardon.
