Man gets 25-year jail term for killing woman over marriage refusal

A model court on Thursday handed down life imprisonment to a man who was found guilty of murdering a woman over her refusal to accept his marriage proposal for her sister.

The additional sessions judge of the Central district’s model court convicted Shakeel Ahmed of killing Faiza Khalil, observing that the circumstantial evidence proved the charges against the accused. The convict has been sentenced to 25 years in jail.

However, the judge has also ordered Ahmed to pay Rs500,000 in compensation to the legal heirs of the victim. In case of non-payment, the convict will have to undergo an additional imprisonment for six months.

According to the prosecution, Ahmed had offered his proposal to Faiza Khalil that he wanted to marry her younger sister. Over Faiza’s refusal, the convict became infuriated and revengeful, it added.

On December 23, 2018, the man came to her house and killed her by slitting her throat with a sharp-edged tool and later escaped, it said

During an investigation, the police found evidence against him from the collected material, including the instrument used in the offence and blood-stained clothes of the victim. Witnesses also appeared against him. The convict, however, pleaded not guilty. The case was registered under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s brother, Muhammad Imran