Man awarded life term for killing brother-in-law after quarrel with wife

A model court on Wednesday awarded life imprisonment to a man in a 2021 murder case.

Farhan Kashif was found guilty of shooting and killing his brother-in-law Aslam Pascal after a quarrel with his wife in the Gulistan-e-Jauhar area in December 2021.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Abdul Zahoor Chandio of the Model Criminal Trial Court (East) announced his order reserved after recording evidence and final arguments from both defence and prosecution sides.

He ruled that the prosecution has successfully established its case against accused Farhan, sentencing him to imprisonemnt for life.

The convict was told to pay Rs1 million as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased. In case of failure to pay the compensation, he would have to undergo additional six-month imprisonment.

“The reason for not awarding death penalty to the accused is that the incident occurred suddenly at the house of accused where the complainant, deceased and their father came voluntarily to resolve the dispute between Farhan Kashif and his wife Nusrat Jacqueline; hence of premeditation or ill will of accused for committing murder of the deceased is lacking, which creates mitigating circumstances to award lesser punishment to the accused,” observed the judge.

Furthermore, the court awarded ten-year imprisonment to Farhan for possessing an unlicensed firearm with a Rs50,000 fine. On default, he would have to undergo six more months of imprisonment.

According to the prosecution, on December 22, 2021, complainant Haroon Babar, along with his brother Alsam and father Yousuf Ghulam, were present at their home when his sister, Nusrat Jacqueline, arrived in tears. She claimed to have been assaulted by her husband Farhan. Subsequently, they accompanied Nusrat to her house in an attempt to reconcile between her and Kashif, who would often quarrel with her due to an illicit relationship with a friend’s wife.

State prosecutor Muhammad Ashraf Bhatti said that the accused opened fire in a fit of rage, resulting in the death of Aslam.

He argued that there was sufficient medical, circumstantial and ocular evidence to connect the accused with the commissioning of the offence, requesting the judge to punish him as per the law.

On the other hand, the defence counsel contended that there were contradictions in prosecution case. She said her client was innocent and falsely implicated in the case, adding that the prosecution witnesses altered their statements to support the prosecution case, rendering their testimonies unworthy to be relied.

Two cases were lodged under Section 302 (murder), 337-F(i) (Shajjah) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code and 23(i)A of the Sindh Arms Act at the Gulistan-e-Jauhar police station.