LAHORE: The Lahore High Court on Friday set aside death penalty of a man who had killed his daughter for not making a round roti (bread) in 2015.

A sessions court had n Oct 24, 2016, awarded death sentence to Khalid Mahmood and also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on him.

Mahmood, a resident of Shadbagh, had allegedly confessed to his crime during police investigation that he killed his teenage daughter, Aniqa.

The convict filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court against the sentence saying the police had failed to produce any evidence against him before the trial court.

However, he said, the trial court announced the guilty verdict in the absence of any concrete evidence.

The counsel for the appellant asked the LHC to set aside the trial court’s decision for lack of evidence.

A two-judge bench headed by Justice Shehram Sarwar allowed the appeal and acquitted the appellant for lack of evidence.

Published in Dawn, December 7th, 2019