PHC sets aside death sentence to woman, uncle in murder case

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) has set aside death sentence awarded to a woman and her uncle in a murder case of her husband about four years ago.

A division bench comprising Justice Ghazanfar Khan and Justice Arshad Ali allowed the appeals of the convicts Palwasha and her uncle Ghazi Akbar. The bench observed that it was not a valid ground for the trial court to award capital punishment mere on the assumption that the accused Ghazi Akbar remained till last time with the deceased Gulab Sher.

Sahibzada Asadullah, counsel for the convicts, submitted before the bench that on October 10, 2014, Izzat Sher had charged his sister-in-law Palwasha and her uncle Ghazi Akbar at Khwazakhela Police Station in Swat district with the murder of his brother Gulab Sher.

In the first information report, the lawyer argued, the complainant claimed that his sister-in-law and her uncle had axed his brother to death for some gains and the trial court then awarded them the death sentence.

He submitted that the relationship between the convicts was so close, which cannot be blamed for killing the man for having some relations as mentioned by the complainant in the report. Te lawyer told the bench that the police did not properly investigate the case. However, counsel for the complainant and state lawyer failed to clarify the questions and legal points raised by the lawyer of the convicts during arguments.