Youth sentenced to life in prison for murdering cousin

A sessions court on Wednesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for the murder of his cousin over a rejected marriage proposal.

Ahmed Khan was found guilty of shooting to death his maternal cousin Fayaz Ahmed, 19, with his licensed pistol at his home in Frontier Colony within the jurisdiction of the Pirabad police station in July 2020. However, his father Muhammad Siddique and brother Salman were acquitted of the charge for lack of evidence. Additional District and Sessions Judge (West) Sohail Ahmed Mashori pronounced his verdict reserved after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

He ruled that the prosecution succeeded in bringing home the guilt of the accused, awarding him imprisonment for life. The convict was also ordered to pay Rs500,000 as compensation to the legal heirs of the victim or undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

The judge explained that the accused was young with no previous criminal record so it was more appropriate to award him life term instead of capital punishment. He exonerated Siddique and Salman from the charge saying they were away at their workplace at the time of the incident and that none of the witnesses had specifically deposed against them.

The judge also rejected the defence plea that the victim committed suicide or the pistol went off accidentally, resulting in his death. State Prosecutor Muhammad Ashraf Qaiser contended that Fayaz, a resident of Buner, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, had come to Karachi to visit his relatives. On July 10, 2020, Ahmed and his friend came to the house of Fayaz's uncle Abdul Ghaffar, where he had been staying, and asked him to accompany them to his house, the prosecutor said, adding that when the victim went to Ahmed's house, the accused shot him with his licensed pistol.

He said the accused was annoyed after his marriage proposal to his cousin was rejected by her parents, who instead agreed to marry their daughter off to Fayaz. The mothers of Fayaz, Ahmed and the girl are sisters.

The prosecutor contended that ocular, medical as well as circumstantial evidence connected the accused with the commission of the offence, requesting the judge to punish him as per the law.

In his statement, the accused claimed that Fayaz took out his pistol from his cabinet after he went out of the room to answer nature's call. He said he heard a gunshot and rushed to the room where he saw Fayaz lying in a pool of blood.