Indian community seeks justice on murdered Zaheera: Protest against suspect Gumrha’s bail application

Lilongwe-based Indian nationals have ganged up to demand justice on the brutual murder of Zaheera Jabbar Abanies last month.

Zaheera, 36 and a mother of three was allegedly gruesomely murdered by her husband, Shaheen Gumrha last month using a knife.

The suspect, Gumrha, 41,   is currently on remand at Maula Prison awaiting trial.

In a statement which is aimed at mobilizing members to join the case, the aggrieved community is appealing for support from the general public to stand in solidarity for the late Zaheera and also pleads for justice to prevail.

The statement which Nyasa Times has seen said that “this message is a plea to all the heads of  and members of the various communities in Malawi, regardless of cast, creed or religion to stand together in solidarity tomorrow to show our support for the deceased.”

This prompted the community and sympathies to storm the High Court premises on Wednesday morning to protest against any attempt to grant bail to the suspect.

Amongst those who were part of the grouping was the father of the deceased and other family members.

This was happening as family lawyer Goba Chipeta and the defense Counsel Innocent Kubwalo worked on some paper work regarding the case, which court records show that there is a bail application

However, the lawyers refused to comment on the court proceedings which were held in chamber.

In an interview with Nyasa Times one of the sympathizers said they thought it wise to protest against the bail application as they feel like his temporally freedom will be a threat to the community.

“We will do everything possible to see into it that justice has been done,” she said.

Zaheera was murdered on December 19 last year in Area 9 suburbs of Lilongwe. The husband was arrested the following day as a suspect. Since then, he has been on remand at Maula Prison.

Last Thursday, the Magistrate’s Court in Lilongwe committed the case to the High Court, which is mandated to handle murder cases.