Man remanded in judicial custody in wife’s murder case

An anti-terrorism court has remanded in judicial custody a man arrested for allegedly killing his estranged wife inside a judicial magistrate's chamber in the City Courts. Sikandar Sahto was taken into custody after he shot dead his wife Saima and hit and injured his father-in-law Dadan Sahto with the butt of a pistol during the pre-trial hearing of the woman’s plea for khula (dissolution of marriage) in the chamber of the Judicial Magistrate-XVIII (Central) on May 29. The investigating officer produced the suspect before the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts on the completion of his six-day physical remand in police custody, and requested that he be sent to jail.

The judge sent the suspect to prison on judicial remand with a direction to the IO to submit an interim charge sheet against him on the next date of the hearing. Initially, an FIR was lodged against Sikander under Section 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) at the City Courts police station. However, the IO later included Section 302 (murder) of the PPC in the case after the woman succumbed to gunshot wounds during treatment at hospital.He added Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the ATA to the FIR stating that the offence fell within the ambit of terrorism. Another case was registered against the accused under Section 23(i) of the Sindh Arms Act after he failed to produce the licence of the weapon used in the offence.