PESHAWAR, March 21: In an honour-related double murder case, a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court commuted here on Thursday the death sentence of an appellant to seven years imprisonment.

The appellant, Wakeel Saeed, was sentenced to death and 10-year imprisonment by a trial court in Lahor (Swabi district) on July 21, 2002, after he was found guilty of killing his daughter, Sheerena, and a cleric of a nearby mosque, Hafiz Qari Saeed.

The bench, comprising Chief Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan and Justice Khalida Rachied, observed that keeping in view circumstances of the case the sentence of the appellant had been commuted to seven years imprisonment.

The appellant had himself surrendered to the police along with the weapon of the offence, saying that he had killed the two due to sudden provocation.

He said he was sleeping at his residence when he heard some noise. When he came out of his residence, he added, the people of the locality informed him that they had found his daughter and the cleric in objectionable position in a room at a nearby mosque and had locked the door from outside.

The appellant claimed that he went to the place of occurrence and first killed his daughter and then the cleric. After the occurrence he himself went to the police station. The appellant’s counsel argued that it was an act of grave and sudden provocation. He further argued that in such cases it was the discretion of the court to adopt lenient view keeping in view the circumstances in which the occurrence had taken place.

He cited various judgments of the superior courts, arguing that it was consistent view of the court to adopt lenient view in such cases. He pointed out that under section 306 of the Qisas and Diyat law, an offender could not be sentenced to death for killing his child.