KARACHI: A young woman was shot dead allegedly by her brother in the name of so-called honour in their Defence Housing Authority home on Sunday, police said.

South SSP Syed Asad Raza said that the suspect was taken into custody and he ‘confessed’ to have killed his 24-year-old sister Safia Ghani Khan.

The SSP said that the police received information at 06:00am that the body of a woman was brought to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre. A police team reached the hospital and questioned her brother, Hakeem Khan, who lived in DHA’s Khayaban-i-Hilal.

The brother told the police that he was cleaning his licensed 9mm pistol when it accidentally went off and a bullet hit his sister who was taken to a hospital where she died.

Police Surgeon Summaiya Syed, however, said that the young woman suffered two bullet wounds in the head and leg.

The SSP said that the police did not believe his statement and grilled him after which he “confessed”, alleging that his sister was involved with a man and he killed her in the name of ‘honour’.

The officer said that the victim’s family was not willing to lodge an FIR. “So, it was decided that a murder case will be registered against the held suspect on behalf of the state,” he said.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2023