Man handed down death penalty for killing mother-in-law

A gender-based violence court on Wednesday sentenced a man to death for the murder of a woman. Fareed Ahmed was found guilty of shooting to death his mother-in-law Shabana Bibi and wounding her nephew Hidayatullah and daughter Stooriya at their home in Qadria Mohalla within the jurisdiction of the Pirabad police station in the Orangi Town area in October 2018.

Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Ali of the Gender-Based Violence Court (West) ruled that the accused committed the murder of the woman, which had been proved by the prosecution beyond the shadow of any reasonable doubt.

"Since there are no mitigating circumstances, therefore, there is no need to take lenient view in awarding punishment to the convict," the judge observed and sentenced the convict to death subject to confirmation by the Sindh High Court.

He awarded a collective sentence of eight-year imprisonment to the man for causing firearm injuries to two others and ordered him to pay Rs40,000 as Daman to the victims. "In case of non-payment of the imposed Daman amount, the same amount shall be recovered from the convict as arrears of Land Revenue," the judge observed.

He added that the motive behind the murder as alleged by witnesses, including the injured and complainant, was that both the parties had a previous grudge over petty family disputes, which culminated into the instant offence.

The court bifurcated the case against absconding co-accused Bashir Ahmed and issued non-bailable warrants for his arrest. According to State Prosecutor Muhammad Ashraf Bhatti, on October 28, 2018, accused Fareed shot and killed Shabana at the instigation of his brother Bashir after a quarrel over some matrimonial dispute, and injured her nephew Hidayatullah and daughter Stooriya.

The prosecutor contended that the prosecution witnesses fully supported the version of the complainant and implicated the present accused. He said testimonies as well as circumstantial evidence connected the accused with the commission of the heinous offence of murder. In his statement, the accused claimed innocence, saying that he had been falsely implicated in this case due to mala fide intentions.