PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has upheld conviction of a woman and the sentence of life awarded to her by a trial court for killing her stepdaughter-in-law by slitting her throat.

A bench consisting of Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim and Justice Syed M Attique Shah rejected an appeal filed by the convict, Rabia, and ruled that the judgment of the trial court was well-reasoned and based on proper appraisal of evidence.

The appellant was convicted by an additional district and sessions judge of Peshawar, on February 14, 2022. She was sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life and was also fined Rs500,000, which had to be paid to the legal heirs of the deceased woman named Wajiha.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at Badbher police station on April 19, 2016 under section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code.

The complainant in the case was Ijaz Khan, father of the deceased woman, who stated that he received information about the killing of his daughter after which he rushed to her residence.

He stated when he reached there, he came to know that his daughter was killed by her stepmother-in-law Rabia over a dispute of jewellery. The appellant had also injured herself so as to divert the nature of the incident by depicting it as a robbery.

The appellant was arrested few days after occurrence and during interrogation she admitted her guilt.

Advocate Mian Zakir Hussain appeared for the complainant and contended that the evidence on record connected the appellant with the commission of the offence. He added that the prosecution fully proved its case against the appellant.

He argued that the appellant killed the deceased in a brutal manner so she did not deserve any leniency.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2023