Part 6
Court had started hearing with the prosecution. Prosecutor was a senior advocate. Mr.akasha mitra. Prosecution was strong as asad expected. Also all the evidence was against zoya which was submitted by prosecution. Asad had expected this. Zoya is still so lifeless. Like the first time asad had met in jail. Sameera was worried by prosecution. But asad's eyes showed confidence. So she was revealed a bit. After hearing the prosecution court granted permission for the defence lawyer to proceed.
Asad: my lord! I request to call mrs. Razia Ahmed siddiqi for giving her statement.
Every one was astonished. No one expected asad will call razia for giving statement. Prosecution had called farhaan since zoya had accepted her crime in front of him. But no one can understand why razia is being called?
Attender: mrs. Razia Ahmed siddiqi please be in front of the court.
Razia came in to the witness box. Razia was made to take the oath that she will only say truth in front of the court.
Asad: mrs. Siddiqi! Is zoya your own daughter?
Farhaan was astonished. He was not expecting this question. In the case he had noted that never they mentioned zoya as an adopted daughter.
Razia: no. She is my adopted daughter.
Asad smiled. This is exactly what he wants. Zoya was a bit nervous. She knows asad won't break his promise. But why he is going to these details?
Adv. Akash: my lord! I can't understand why defence lawyer is asking these kind of questions? Why does it matter if zoya is adopted or not?
Asad: my lord! My next question will help every one to understand what's the importance of this question.
Judge: objection over ruled!
Asad: thank you my lord!
Asad turned towards razia.
Asad: so mrs. Siddiqi you already had a son then what was the need of adopting one more kid?
Razia: zoya is my husbands cousin sister zeenat's daughter. When Zeenat & her husband anwer had died zoya was only 3 yrs old. So we adopted her. Now it has been 18 yrs.
Asad: how did zoya's parents die?
Razia: it was a car accident.
Asad: so zoya was not there in the car during accident & she was saved.
Razia: no! Zoya was also in the car. Car had hit with a truck. Zeenat & anwer died on the spot. Zoya was in the back seat. Her head was hurt badly. She was hospitalised & more than a month she was in coma.
Asad: after that zoya was completely recovered?
Razia: no! She had post traumatic stress disorder. She is still on medications.
Asad: PTSD? With this was her behaviour always normal?
Razia: no! When ever she is stressed or restless she will be completely disoriented. Some times she will behave violently. Worst part is she never remembers what she does.
Every one could feel a mothers concern and worry in razia's voice.
Asad: mrs. Siddiqi! Before gaffour's death how was zoya to you people? Was she affectionate or was there any problem between you guys?
Razia: zoya was our princess. For the past 18 yrs we never differentiated between her & farhaan. We truly loved her. Provided all the comforts in the world. She always loved & respected us. At a proper time we did reveal about anwer & zeenat to her. We used to take her to there grave yard. Zoya had no problems with that. In fact she always said we are her ammi & abbu.
Razia broke down after this. So do zoya.
Asad: thank you mrs. Siddiqi.
Razia left the witness box.
Asad: my lord! Please note this point that zoya suffered from PTSD & some times she used to have disorientation.
Asad: my lord! Please grant me permission to call zoya's childhood friend Asma.
Judge: permission granted!
Attender: Asma quadri! Please come in front of court.
Asma came in the witness box.
Asad: Asma how you know zoya?
Asma: we both studied together from kg classes to plus two. After that zoya selected engineering field & I selected MBBS.
Asad: are you aware about zoya's PTSD?
Asma: ji
Asad: kaise?
Asma: as I said we studied together in the school, zoya was a brilliant student & also active in sports. Once when we wear in 2 nd std we wear having exams & zoya was so stressed & disturbed on that day. After the exam one of our classmate for fun just hit on zoya's head & zoya reacted violently. She bet him hardly & also hit him with a stone. Even when he was bleeding zoya didn't stop beating him. Finally she fainted. Once she woke up she was shocked & she didn't remember what had happened before her passing out. We all came to know about zoya's health & after that we all used to be cautious when ever she is restless or stressed.
Asad: thank you Asma.
Asad: my lord! Please grant me permission to call zoya's room mate in her college hostel.
Judge: permission granted!
Attender: ms. NikhAt qureshi please be in front of court.
Asad: NikhAt so you are zoya's roommate?
NikhAt: yes. Me & zoya room mates. We both are in same batch. But different field. I am into IT & zoya is in electrical engineering.
Asad: did zoya ever had these kind of disoriented attacks when she was in college?
NikhAt: ji! Few times. Once when we joined the college recently we were calked by our seniors & there zoya had one of this kind of violent attack there. It was the first time we all saw her like that. After that we came to know about her disease.
Asad: did you meet zoya before leaving to Bhopal on the day of murder?
NikhAt: yes. When the trip got cancelled zoya came to room. She was extremely restless. She was going on saying that some thing bad is going to happen. Finally when it increased she decided to go home as for next few days there were no classes for her batch. She thought she will be fine once she reach home.
Asad felt really bad. Zoya wanted comfort & then she went to her home. But what had happened then?
Asad: thank you NikhAt!
Asad: my lord I would like to call zoya's psychiatrist in the witness box.
Judge: permission granted.
Attender: dr. Shireen shiek please be in front of court.
Shireen came in the witness box.
Asad: dr. Shireen for how long zoya is your patient?
Shireen: for past 18 yrs.
asad: dr can you please explain zoya's condition?
Shireen: zoya had met with a car accident 18 yrs back. Because of that she had severe head injury & she was in coma for a month. After the incident she developed PTSD. It may develop in few people exposed to traumatic events & zoya was regularly on treatment. Because of this PTSD zoya had delrium. Delirium is a disturbance of consciousness in which orientation is impaired or it's lost & thought content is irrelevant. PTSD is a pre disposing factor for delirium. Mostly delirium patients presents with symptoms like losing self control, becoming impulsive & violent. Worst part is they are not conscious & unaware of that act. This may be due to restlessness or sleep less ness. Zoya was on anti psychotics. Many times after the attack she was brought to me. Un fortunately there is no proper treatment for this. Only symptomatic treatment. It can't be cured completely.
Asad: thank you doctor.
Asad: my lord! This is zoya's medical reports. I am submitting this in court.
Asad gave the reports to the front desk. It was passed to judge.
Asad: my lord! From dr. Shireen's statement it's clear that zoya has delirium & she is on treatment. Asma & nikhat's statement too support these facts & also the incidents they have witnessed during her attacks. According to forensic psychiatry delirium patients are not responsible for there criminal acts. Nikhat's statement clearly stated zoya's disturbed mental status on the murder day. Also prosecution too agreed that zoya was numb for many hours after the crime. So it's clear that my client zoya was out of her conscious state during the time of act. That's all your owner!
Sameera was now sure that zoya will be sent free. Now she could connect why asad asked each & every event of zoya's life & why he needed zoya's files when she was hospitalised in the past & medical records.
Zoya was still in shock. Where as farhaan was fuming with anger. Razia was crying. Prosecutor informed them that they are loosing the case & zoya won't be punished.
After some time court had declared the final verdict of gaffour's murder case.
Judge: it has been proved that the accused ms. Zoya siddiqi was out of her mental state & unaware of her acts. Considering the facts that she has been on treatment for delirium & PTSD, it has been proved that zoya can't be held responsible for gaffour's murder. So this court had let ms. Zoya free from the charges!
A/N: I apologise if I made any mistake. It was not intentional. I humbly request the readers to consider this as a piece of fiction.
Note: zoya did have these mental disturbances following the accident when she was young.
Edited by Az07 - 11 years ago
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