SC orders arrest of absconding honour killing accused

The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the police to arrest an absconding co-accused, Mumtaz Ali Narejo, involved in the kidnapping and murder of a couple who married of their own free will.

The direction came on the petition of Amirzadi who sought recovery of her son and daughter-in-law who have been missing since June 2009. However, as per the police’s progress report submitted in court, one of the accused revealed that the couple was murdered in Dadu and their bodies thrown in the river.

The petitioner submitted that her son, Israr Ahmed, married Fakharunnisa Narejo against the wishes of the woman’s family before the Justice of Peace in Karachi. She maintained that the couple was abducted from the Shahrah-e-Noor Jehan area.

The woman said that her daughter-in-law’s relatives after declaring the couple Karo-Kari had kidnapped them in June 2009 and their whereabouts remain unknown since then. In her application, the woman pleaded with the court to have the whereabouts of the couple ascertained at the earliest. She had also moved the court against the acquittal of six of the accused by a high court.

Her counsel, Syed Abdul Waheed, submitted that a kidnapping case was registered against Ali Akbar, Asghar Ali, Amir Ali, Rab Nawaz, Haq Nawaz, Abdul Latif Narejo, Ghulam Rasool Narejo and Mumtaz Ali Narejo in June 2009.

Except Mumtaz Ali Narejo, the trial court had convicted six of the accused to five years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs5,000 was also imposed on each of them. However, their convictions were later set aside by the high court but the whereabouts of the couple were still unknown.

As per the police’s report, the accused have been charge-sheeted under murder charges following disclosures made by Ghulam Rasool. The accused maintained that they had taken the couple to Dadu and killed them their and threw their bodies in the river.

The police added that efforts were being made to arrest the absconding co-accused so as to prosecute all of the accused for the offence. The court directed the police to recover Mumtaz Ali Narejo and submit a progress report on the next date of hearing.