October 30, 2006	Monday	Shawwal 6, 1427

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PESHAWAR: Amendments made to some laws to curb the medieval practice of honour killings seem to be failing to achieve desired results as police and lawyers have devised different tactics to protect the offenders.

The parliament has introduced some changes in the Pakistan Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code to discourage compromises between offenders and legal heirs of a victim in honour-related offences.

It is learnt that in various cases, the killers and heirs of murdered women reached compromises but the courts were not informed and the complainants recorded statements favouring the accused.

In some cases, police did not mention that the offence was committed on the pretext of honour and instead the FIR mentioned that the murder was committed over a domestic dispute.

The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act was enacted on Jan 11, 2005, amending some sections of the PPC and the CrPC.

The amended sections of the PPC included 311, which deals with Fasad fil Arz (mischief on earth). One of the amendments said that Fasad fil Arz shall include honour killings.

Now under the amended section, an honour killing case shall be dealt under the principle of Fasad fil Arz and the offender shall be sentenced to a prison term of not less than 10 years.

Moreover, section 338E was amended and it was mentioned that when an offence has been committed in the name of honour, the offence may be compounded subject to such conditions as the court may deem fit to impose with the consent of the parties involved.

In one of the recent cases, the brother of a woman charged with killing her after 22 years of her marriage was extended pre-arrest bail by a local court after the complainant in the case changed his earlier statement after reaching a compromise.

Sources privy to the case informed Dawn that Shamim Bano had wedded Idrees Khan against the wish of her family. On May 10, 2006, her brothers with some accomplices stormed her residence in the jurisdiction of the Chamkani police and took her away in injured condition.

The FIR of the case was lodged by her brother-in-law, Mohammad Sabir, who alleged that the prime accused Sahib Jan and others had taken the injured woman to Afghanistan where she died. Later, both the families reached a compromise leading to change in Sabir’s statement.

While the prime accused has been absconding, his brothers Haji Hakeem Jan and Haji Essa Khan were arrested. However, the additional district and sessions judge acquitted both of them on Sept 13 as the complainant stated that they were not among the attackers.

A few days ago the prime accused was also extended the benefit of pre-arrest bail as the complainant changed his earlier version and claimed that he had learnt that his sister was still alive and the attack on her was led by another man and not by Sahib Jan.

It is learnt that a lawyer dealing with the case had advised the accused and the complainant party to adopt these tactics and said that informing the court about the compromise might not help them and the accused might be convicted under the principle of Fasad fil Arz.

In another case, a newly wedded woman, Parveen, was killed by her husband, Waliur Rehman, on the suspicion of having illicit relations with his brother.

Initially, Rehman tried to portray his wife’s death as the result of firing in the air. The complainant in the case was the father of the deceased woman.

He disputed the claim and charged his son-in-law with the murder. Rehman was arrested and he confessed to having killed his wife.

The issue took an ugly turn when the complainant struck a compromise with the accused.

On the basis of that compromise, the additional district and sessions judge granted bail to the accused.

A local lawyer says that the court overlooked the amendments to the law as now bail cannot be granted on the basis of compromise in an honour killing case.