PESHAWAR: An additional district and sessions judge here has found a man and his sister guilty of killing his wife by throwing acid on her and sentenced them to death with a fine of Rs200,000.

After completion of arguments by the defence and prosecution the judge, Ms Riffat Aamir, ruled the other day that the prosecution had proved its case against the two accused persons, Amjid Ali and his sister Ms Samina, and the evidence on record connected them with the commission of the offence.

An absconding sister of Amjid Ali named Ms Zeba was declared a proclaimed offender by the court and her perpetual arrest warrants had been issued.

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The prosecution had charged Amjid along with his sister, residents of Nauthia area in Peshawar, with killing of his wife, Mashada Bibi, a mother of five, on May 23, 2013 by throwing acid on her.

The defendants insisted that the death of the woman was accidental.

Complainant in the case Gulab Shah, a brother of the victim woman, had lodged an FIR with the Bhana Mari police station, alleging that his sister’s death was not accidental and in fact she was killed by her husband and sisters-in-law.

The complainant had stated that his sister was married to Amjid around 10 years ago.

Other sister declared proclaimed offender in the acid throwing case

He claimed that her husband and in-laws were not treating her well and would often thrash her on different pretexts.

Two minor sons of the deceased, Wajid and Majid, had testified against their father and told the police that they saw their father and aunts throwing acid on their mother. The woman had succumbed to the burn injuries in a hospital.

Some neighbours of the accused also told the police that they had heard the victim woman crying and saying that “they are killing me”.

They claimed that they tried to enter their residence, but as the door was locked they could not.

Public prosecutor Saqib Khan argued that the accused, Amjid, was in his home at the time of the incident and couldn’t explain his position why his sons testified against him.

He added that the police had also recovered acid from his residence.

The defence counsel argued that the woman’s death was accidental as she had suffered burns while working in the kitchen.

He contended that when Amjid saw her she was immediately taken to the hospital.

He added that she was later shifted to a burns centre situated in Wah cantonment area.

He said that the couple had entered into a love marriage several years ago and there was no motive that might have forced the petitioners to kill the woman.

Published in Dawn March 2nd , 2015

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