KARACHI: A sessions court on Tuesday sentenced a man to life imprisonment for murdering his wife.

The court found Abid Ali guilty of strangling his wife, Rukhsana, to death over some domestic dispute at their house in Cattle Colony in February 2013.

However, the court acquitted the convict’s father, Faqir Muhammad, and a brother, Mohammad Yusuf, for lack of evidence.

Malir District and Sessions Judge Farooq Ali Channa also directed the convict to pay Rs100,000 to the legal heirs of the victim as compensation and in case of non-payment the convict would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

The prosecution said that the victim was married to the accused around 10 months before the incident and he used to torture her. The accused also attempted to commit suicide after killing his wife, it added.

A case was registered against the accused persons under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code on a complaint of the deceased’s brother at the Sukhan police station.

The court also extended him the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the criminal procedure code.

The main accused was in custody and after the pronouncement of verdict the court remanded him back to prison along with his conviction warrant to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

The acquitted father and son were on bail.

Published in Dawn, July 15th, 2015

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