SHC dismisses appeal of man convicted of wife’s murder

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed the appeal of a man against his life imprisonment in the case of his wife’s murder.

The appellant, Mehboob, was sentenced to life imprisonment by an East additional district and sessions court for committing the murder of his wife Zulekha by causing her dagger injuries. According to the prosecution, the appellant had been annoyed after the victim gave birth to a girl.

The appellant’s counsel, however, submitted that he was falsely implicated in the case and evidence of the prosecution was doubtful. He requested the high court to extend the benefit of the doubt to him.

An additional prosecutor general and complainant’s counsel supported the trial court order and submitted that the victim had made a dying declaration implicating the appellant in the commission of the incident.

A single bench of the high court headed by Justice Irshad Ali Shah after hearing the arguments and perusal of the evidence observed that the circumstances of the case prima facie suggested that it was the appellant who caused dagger injuries to the deceased after being annoyed by the birth of a girl.

The high court observed that a daughter of the victim deposed that she found her mother restless and crying and her father standing there with a dagger. He later threw the dagger and escaped.

The bench observed that the witness had stated that her mother told her that she had been assaulted by the appellant and it appeared to be true as no person on death bed would speak a lie.

The SHC observed that the evidence of the appellant’s daughter also took support from the doctor who said the victim had informed him that her spouse had stabbed her.

The high court observed that the prosecution had been able to prove its case against the appellant beyond any shadow of doubt and the trial court had committed no illegality or irregularity by convicting the appellant of the offence with which he had been charged. The SHC dismissed the appeal and upheld the life imprisonment of the appellant.