A district and sessions court in Karachi acquitted Natasha Danish on Thursday in a murder case stemming from a fatal accident on Karsaz Road in August. The acquittal followed the submission of a reconciliation pact between the families involved.
On August 19, a speeding Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Danish collided with three motorcycles and another car, resulting in the deaths of 60-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter, Amna. The accident also injured three other individuals. Danish was arrested at the scene and charged with manslaughter.
Danish had previously been granted bail in the murder case on September 6. However, her bail pleas in a separate drug case were denied by lower courts, leading her to appeal to the Sindh High Court. The court later approved her bail against surety bonds worth Rs1 million.
Advocate Amir Mansoob Qureshi, representing Danish, confirmed the acquittal, stating that the court accepted the compromise application from both parties. “The court has accepted the compromise application and acquitted Natasha from this case,” he said. Qureshi expressed optimism regarding Danish’s potential acquittal in the drug case, arguing that if the principle offense was not established in the murder case, then the predicate offense in the drug case should also be reconsidered.
Danish was not present in court during the hearing.
In the wake of the Karsaz accident, police revealed that Danish had tested positive for narcotic methamphetamine (crystal meth) at the time of the incident. This led to the registration of a separate first information report (FIR) under the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order of 1979 for driving under the influence.
Despite being granted bail in the murder case due to the victims’ family’s forgiveness, both a judicial magistrate and a sessions court had denied her bail in the drug case, citing concerns over the integrity of her blood and urine tests. The state prosecutor had contested her bail, arguing that the final charge sheet had yet to be submitted.
Just before her hearing at the Sindh High Court, Karachi police filed a charge sheet against Danish in the drug case.
