Woman gets life term, accomplice death penalty for killing husband

A sessions court has sentenced a woman to life imprisonment and her accomplice to death penalty for the murder of her husband.

Asma and Ghulam Nabi, alias Deedar, were convicted of murdering Shah Zaman, 35, by strangling and giving him electric shocks at his house in Manghopir on November 4, 2019. Additional District and Sessions Judge (West) Aurangzeb Shah also ordered the convicts to pay Rs500,000 each as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased or undergo an additional six-month imprisonment on default.

He said the death penalty awarded to Nabi was subject to confirmation by the Sindh High Court. According to the prosecution, the complainant, Irfan Ahmed, stated that he was informed on November 5, 2019, over phone by his cousin that Zaman had died of an electric shock and his body was being shifted to Jacobabad for his final rites. He said he inspected the body after it arrived in Jacobabad and found scars on the wrists, chest, feet, ankles and neck.

Upon suspicion, he said the body was shifted back to Karachi for an autopsy, which was later conducted at the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, adding that the postmortem report confirmed that Zaman had died after strangulation and suffering electric shocks.

The state prosecutor contended that Asma had confessed before the judicial magistrate concerned that she murdered her husband with the help of Nabi. The victim's sons, Ahmed Buksh, alias Babu and Sumair, as well as co-accused Asma fully implicated Nabi in the case, he said.

In its written order, the court noted: "From the perusal of record, it appears that after the arrest of accused Asma, her confessional statement was recorded before the concerned Judicial Magistrate, wherein she confessed her guilt being accomplice of accused Ghulam Nabi alias Deedar and stated that she wanted to get rid of her husband namely Shah Zaman and there was no option except his murder."

As per the order, the woman further admitted that Nabi helped her by giving her sleeping pills, which she mixed with milk that she gave to her husband, adding that then she called Nabi who came to their house and after finding him asleep, he took an electric wire, put it around his neck and gave him electric shocks for 10 to 15 minutes. The court said Buksh's testimony showed that there was some relationship between both the accused prior to the incident.