LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Monday allowed an appeal of a female fashion model against her death penalty awarded on charges of killing a fellow model in 2014.

A trial court had in 2018 awarded death sentence to the appellant, Uzma Rao alias Tooba, while acquitted two other accused — Farooq Rehman and Hakeem Zeeshan — in model Abeera murder case. Sherakot police had registered an FIR.

The appellant/convict, through a counsel, contended that the trial court handed down the conviction without any cogent evidence.

According to the prosecution, model Tooba killed her friend, Abeera, by administering her poison as she had refused to help her kill her former husband.

It said Abeera wanted to become a model and she met Tooba at a local hotel and sought her help for promotion as a model. Later, both started living together at Tooba’s house.

The police alleged that Tooba had killed Abeera after she refused to cooperate in killing Butt.

According to the police, Tooba confessed that she wanted to take revenge from her ex-husband for his cruelty and was plotting to kill him with Abeera’s help, who first agreed but later refused to do so.

Tooba held Butt responsible for the death of their two-month-old daughter.

The bench headed by Justice Chaudhry Shehram Sarwar allowed the appeal of the model and acquitted her of the charge.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2022