Couple murdered in name of honour

PESHAWAR: A man allegedly killed his daughter and her alleged paramour in the city on Thursday.

An official of the Tehkal Police Station said that Khan Afzal, a resident of Jehangirabad locality, allegedly killed his 23 years old daughter, Yasmeen, and her lover Junaid, 22, at his house. The official said the police arrested Khan Afzal along with a gun from his house and started investigating the incident. As per the police preliminary report, Yasmeen was already married to another person.

The report said the father of the young woman found her and her alleged lover at his house and killed both of them on the spot. Honour killings continue to happen in the province. On May 19, a man allegedly killed his 16 year old daughter Nosheen and her alleged lover Shakil in a suspected case of honour killing in Dir Colony in the jurisdiction of Yakatoot Police Station in the city.

As per the recently adopted new law in October, if a woman is murdered in the name of honour by a close family member the culprits will be liable to strict punishment even if they are pardoned by other members of the family.

Noor Alam Khan, a Supreme Court lawyer who deals with the honour killing-related cases, told The News the anti-honour killing law, in principle, directs judges to sentence someone accused of an honour-killing to a life-term in prison, whether the victim’s immediate family forgives the culprit or not. However, legal experts are of the opinion that after killing a relative in the name of honour, a person may declare it a simple murder to avoid the punishment.

Under the existing law, a murderer can be released after the legal heirs pardon him. The proposed legislation on honour killings recommends 25 years’ imprisonment even if the heirs of the victim pardon the convict.

Under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), the convict in a simple murder case may get the life imprisonment of 14 years or a maximum of the death penalty. Noor Alam Khan said the legislation on honour killings would not achieve the desired results as the accused may claim that he had committed the murder for other reasons such as a dispute over property, etc.

“Hence, he may be charged with Section 302 of the PPC and the family members may pardon him under Section 309 of the PPC,” the lawyer added. According to the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, 1,276 incidents of honour killings were reported in the country from February 2014 to February 2016 but the first information reports were registered in 400 cases only.