Man awarded life in sister-in-law’s murder case
By Ishaq Tanoli
KARACHI: A sessions court on Wednesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment in a case pertaining to the murder of his sister-in-law.
The court found Shahid Ali, son of Imamuddin, guilty of killing Nadra Bibi within the remit of the Zaman Town police station in 2004.
Additional district and sessions judge (east) Sanaullah Khan Ghory pronounced the verdict after recording evidence of prosecution witnesses and final arguments from both sides.
The court also extended the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the criminal procedure code to the convict, who was produced in court.
After announcing the order, the judge remanded him back to prison along with the conviction warrant to serve out the remainder of his sentence.
According to the verdict, there was no eyewitness to the incident but two key prosecution witnesses have deposed that on the date of the incident, they saw the accused coming out of the deceased’s house. Though the defence counsel cross-examined both the witnesses, he failed to establish that they have any enmity or personal grudge against the accused to implicate him falsely in the woman’s murder case.
The judge further observed that the accused had simply denied the allegations and maintained that he had been falsely implicated in the case because he had a dispute with the complainant, the victim’s husband, over payment of labour charges. However, the judge said, the accused failed to prove his plea as well as the alleged dispute.
“All the facts and circumstances show that the accused had entered the house of the deceased lady when she was alone and committed her murder,” the verdict said, adding that the charge of rape was not proved against the accused.
According to the prosecution, Imamuddin entered the house of his sister-in-law Nadra Bibi situated in New Noorani Basti in Korangi on April 23, 2004 on the pretext of seeking onion and strangled the woman to death after subjecting her to a sexual assault. The police arrested him on April 29 at the Qayyumabad bus stop.
In the final arguments, public prosecutor Younus Baloch contented that the deceased’s dying declaration recorded by an assistant sub-inspector in the presence of private witnesses fully supported the prosecution’s case, adding that there were two persons who had witnessed the accused coming out of the deceased’s house the day she was killed.
The defence counsel argued that the complainant had framed him in a false case with intention to usurp the amount of his client’s labour charges pertaining to the construction of the complainant’s house.
The counsel contended that there were major contradictions in the evidence given by the prosecution witnesses, adding that the prosecution could not bring any motive on record for the alleged murder. He pleaded acquittal of his client.
A case (FIR No.64/2004) was registered under Section 302 (premeditated murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code against the accused on the complaint of the deceased’s husband at the Zaman Town police station.
Source: Dawn
Date:2/25/2010
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