Lawyer claims Amina Arif's family forgave Natasha for Allah's sake, not accepted Rs5 crore diyat

The Karsaz accident victims' lawyer, Barrister Uzair Ghouri, has denied rumours that the family of the deceased Amina Arif and Imran Arif have accepted Rs5 crore in diyat. 

He maintained that the victims' family has forgiven the accused driver Natasha for "Allah's sake".

A local court in Karachi approved the bail of the suspect on Friday after the parties involved in the case reached a settlement.

The widow, daughter, and son of the deceased Imran Arif appeared in court, along with the plaintiff Imtiaz Arif and the injured party's lawyer.

During the hearing, the lawyer for the injured citizen stated that the matters had also been settled between the parties. 

Following this, the court granted bail to the accused against the surety bonds of Rs100,000.

Barrister Uzar Ghouri stated that if the case had proceeded and the victims had not reached a settlement with the accused, prime suspect Natasha "would have been subject to a 10-year prison sentence and the payment of the diyat amount."

He stated that the deceased Arif's widow, son, and daughter submitted a no-objection certificate during today's hearing.

The lawyer added that the "court is legally obligated to release the accused if their legal heirs have forgiven her."

He maintained that most of the charges against Natasha were compoundable, except for Section 279 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which criminalises rash and negligent driving.

Background of the case:

The driver, allegedly a member of the prominent Gul Ahmed family, was involved in a car accident on August 19 that resulted in the tragic deaths of two persons and left four others injured.

In the accident, Amna Arif, along with her father, lost her life when a speeding car driven by the suspect lost control and rammed into four motorcycles and two cars on Karsaz Road.

Four others were injured in the accident, out of which one was critically injured.

Abdus Salam, one of the four victims injured, was put on a ventilator after his condition deteriorated due to his injuries, according to family sources.

Following the incident, several Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage emerged in which the suspect was seen committing the crime.

Natasha was arrested by the police from the crime scene and was sent to Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) for a medical checkup.

According to sources, the woman was intoxicated at the time of the accident.

The suspect’s lawyer, Amir Mansoob, said his client was a psychiatric patient and had been under treatment for her condition for five years.

Natasha's counsel told the media that his client had no memory of the incident and was "not in the right frame of mind".

In response, the reporters asked why the family allowed the suspect to drive a car in such "a severe mental condition".

The lawyer claimed the family was unaware that Natasha had taken the car as "they had imposed restrictions on her due to her mental condition".

However, she was declared mentally fit by the psychiatrist of JPMC.

Later, the City Court in the port city sent Natasha to jail on a 14-day judicial remand on August 21.

On August 31, she was booked in another case for drug use. The case was registered at the Bahadurabad police station after the presence of banned drugs was confirmed in the urine and blood samples of the accused.

However, on September 2, the suspect was granted permission to appear in the court hearing via video link due to security reasons.

On August 4, she also filed a bail plea in the court citing her history of mental health issues and previous treatments from multiple psychiatrists. 

Later, the court issued notices to the relevant parties regarding her bail application.