{"id":55573,"date":"2025-11-28T09:02:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:02:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/?p=55573"},"modified":"2025-11-28T09:02:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T09:02:16","slug":"noor-muqaddam-case-injustice-after-injustice-when-a-judge-turns-victim-blaming-by-irum-mumtaz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/noor-muqaddam-case-injustice-after-injustice-when-a-judge-turns-victim-blaming-by-irum-mumtaz\/","title":{"rendered":"Noor Muqaddam Case : Injustice After Injustice: When a Judge Turns Victim-Blaming &#8211; by Irum Mumtaz"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><em><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-55576\" src=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Noor-Muqaddam-Case-Injustice-e1764318418711.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"336\" \/>By:<strong> Irum Mumtaz,<\/strong> Educationist \/ Remedial Therapist\/ Founder of <span class=\"html-span xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak xexx8yu xyri2b x18d9i69 x1c1uobl x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs\"><span class=\"xt0psk2\"><span class=\"xjp7ctv\">IDEAS Institute of Dyslexia Education &amp; Attitudinal Studies.<\/span><\/span><\/span> &amp; <span class=\"html-span xdj266r x14z9mp xat24cr x1lziwak xexx8yu xyri2b x18d9i69 x1c1uobl x1hl2dhg x16tdsg8 x1vvkbs\"><span class=\"xt0psk2\"><span class=\"xjp7ctv\">Bazeecha Welfare Foundation<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-55575 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Noor-Muqaddam-Case-Justice-e1764318266222.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"120\" height=\"137\" \/><strong>The brutal murder of Noor Mukadam shocked our entire nation , a young woman tortured and beheaded in her own home by Zahir Jaffer. The horror of that crime demanded justice. And yes , the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) has upheld the death sentence for murder, rejecting Jaffer\u2019s appeal.<\/strong><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">But justice is not only about legal punishment , it is also about respect, empathy, fairness and dignity for the victim. That is why the additional note issued by Justice Najafi , in which he links Noor\u2019s murder to what he calls the \u201cvice\u201d of living or \u201clive-in relationships\u201d , is not only insensitive, but dangerously unjust.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">By framing the tragedy as a moral consequence of a social \u201cevil,\u201d the judge is effectively blaming Noor for her own death. He reduces her to a symbol , an example of what he sees as moral decay , rather than a human being whose life was taken in the most brutal manner.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">This is victim-blaming, plain and simple. It deepens the wounds of the bereaved family, and hurts every woman in our society whose right to safety, dignity and justice we are still fighting for.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-55577\" src=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Noor-Muqaddam-Case-Najafi.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"422\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Noor-Muqaddam-Case-Najafi.jpg 400w, https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Noor-Muqaddam-Case-Najafi-284x300.jpg 284w, https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Noor-Muqaddam-Case-Najafi-398x420.jpg 398w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\" \/><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><strong>Why Such Judgments Are Hazardous<\/strong><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">It shifts the responsibility from the criminal to the victim. Justice Najafi\u2019s note frames the crime as the outcome of a \u201cliving relationship,\u201d rather than the result of a cold-blooded act of violence. This tacitly implies that Noor was partly to blame , a notion that is poisonous for survivors of sexual violence and abuse.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">It reinforces social stigma and fear. Instead of focusing on accountability and the brutality of the murderer, the narrative becomes about \u201cimmoral relationships.\u201d That discourages victims from seeking help, speaking out, or trusting the system.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">It undermines the principle of justice. A judge\u2019s role is to evaluate facts, evidence, and guilt , not to lecture on morality or society\u2019s private lives. By conflating morality with crime, the judgment becomes a tool of social policing, not legal justice.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><strong>We Must Speak Out , For Noor and For Every Woman<\/strong><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">I refuse to believe that justice alone is the hanging of a criminal. True justice demands dignity, empathy, and a clear condemnation of violence , without blaming the victim. Noor\u2019s murder was not the result of social \u201cvice\u201d; it was the result of a monster\u2019s hatred and entitlement.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">To all fellow citizens , especially women , I say: we must demand better. We must demand judges and institutions that treat survivors and victims with respect, fairness, not prejudice. We must demand reforms to ensure that no murder, rape or act of violence is ever justified in the name of morality or social patterns.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">And for the judiciary , remember: you are the guardians of justice, not the moral police. Your verdicts must protect the vulnerable , not condemn them twice.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\">Let Noor\u2019s death ,horrific and heartbreaking as it was , become a turning point. Let it strengthen our voices, our solidarity, and our resolve to fight for a society where women can live free from fear, prejudice, or blame.<\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><strong>Because justice is not only about punishment , it is about humanity.<\/strong><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By: Irum Mumtaz, Educationist \/ Remedial Therapist\/ Founder of IDEAS Institute of Dyslexia Education &amp; Attitudinal Studies. &amp; Bazeecha Welfare Foundation The brutal murder of Noor Mukadam shocked our entire nation , a young woman tortured and beheaded in her own home by Zahir Jaffer. The horror of that crime demanded justice. And yes , [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":55576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84],"tags":[2633,7743,7745,7747,996,2959,5605,7744,2315,7746],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55573"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55579,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55573\/revisions\/55579"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}