An additional district and sessions judge in Multan has sentenced to death the husband of the 20-year-old pregnant woman who was killed last year in Multan, it emerged on Wednesday.

Sania Zehra — a mother of two — was found dead in her room on July 9 2024, hanging from a ceiling fan. Her father, Syed Asad Abbas, had claimed that her sudden death was not a suicide but an alleged murder. He said his daughter’s in-laws were disguising the murder as a suicide.

A first information report (FIR) was registered at the New Multan police station on his complaint under Sections 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly) and 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

In a one-page court order, dated November 18 — a copy of which is available with Dawn — Additional Sessions judge Mohsin Ali Khan ruled that Syed Muhammad Ali Raza has been “duly convicted of the Qatal-i-Amd of Sania Zehra deceased,” and sentenced the convict to “death as Ta’zir under Section 302 (b) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).”

“Syed Muhammad Ali Raza convict, shall be hanged by neck till his death is pronounced,” the court order read.

According to Section 302(b) of the PPC, “whoever commits Qatal-i-Amd shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life as ta’zir.”

The court also directed the convict to pay Rs500,000 to the victim’s family as compensation under Section 554-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898,“ adding that “in case of default he (the convict) shall undergo imprisonment for six months.”

In two separate court orders — both seen by Dawn — the brother of the main convict, Syed Haider Raza, and his mother, Syeda Azra Parveen, were also found guilty of the murder of Zehra.

The court sentenced them both to life imprisonment and directed each of them to pay Rs500,00 to the family of the victims.

Sania Zehra case

In July 2024, a 20-year-old pregnant mother of two was found dead in Multan. The FIR, which narrated the victim’s father’s complaint, stated that he received a call from a police official, who asked him to head to his daughter’s residence.

The complaint said that after the family reached the scene, they found the victim hanging from a ceiling fan. It said that when the forensic specialist arrived at the scene and tried to untie the noose around the victim’s neck, it opened up quite easily. It said that a doctor present at the scene said that the victim had died at 6pm that day.

The police registered a case under sections 302, 148, and 149 of the PPC against the husband of the deceased, Ali Raza, his brother Ali Haider, father Jeevan Shah, mother Azra Bibi, sister Kanwal Bibi, and sister-in-law Syeda Dua on the complaint of the deceased’s father.