Two young women lost their lives in a tragic accident on Monday night at Islamabad’s Secretariat Chowk when a speeding white Land Cruiser rammed into their scooty.

The driver, identified as 16-year-old Abu Zar, is reportedly the son of an Islamabad High Court judge.

According to the FIR registered at the Secretariat Police Station, Samreen Hussain and her friend Tabinda Batool were returning home from the Pakistan National Council of the Arts when the vehicle struck them from behind.

Both women were critically injured and were shifted to the hospital, where they succumbed to their injuries.

Police said the accused told investigators he had been recording a video on Snapchat at the time of the crash.

He also claimed to have discarded his mobile phone afterwards. Police added that the underage driver had no driving licence.

On Tuesday, a court approved a four-day physical remand of the 16-year-old and handed him over to police.

The incident generated a heated debate on social media, where users questioned the rising trend of vehicles being driven by underage drivers and fatal crashes caused by them.

In a post on X, court reporter Saqib Bashir wrote that efforts for an out-of-court settlement with the victims’ family had intensified.

The accused is said to be the son of Justice Muhammad Asif of the Islamabad High Court, who was recently transferred to Islamabad from Quetta.

Journalist Owais Yousafzai, who covers judicial affairs in Islamabad, reported that Justice Asif has gone on leave due to ill health, leading to the cancellation of his single-bench and division-bench cause lists.

Senior journalist and former PEMRA chairman Absar Alam referenced a similar past incident, saying, “The daughter-in-law of a Supreme Court judge has already done this with a government car; nothing happened then, and nothing will happen now.”

Alam was referring to the high-profile 2022 hit-and-run case involving Shanza Malik, daughter of Supreme Court judge Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmed Khan, who had been acquitted in a case related to the deaths of two men in a car crash.

Journalist Ehsan Wahid also raised questions about Monday’s tragedy, asking: “Will Justice Muhammad Asif ensure justice for the two daughters killed under his son’s car? Will he explain why he handed a vehicle to an underage son with no licence? As parents in Punjab face charges in similar cases, will the same accountability apply here?”