IT is disquieting that such troubling remarks have been made in a case as brutal as that of Noor Mukadam’s murder. Justice Ali Baqar Najafi’s additional note, published on Wednesday, attributes the ghoulish crime to the “vice” of live-in relationships. At a time when the court ought to speak with moral clarity about violence, accountability and justice, the focus appears to have been shifted to policing personal conduct. Such observations diminish the gravity of the crime and echo the logic often used to excuse violence in our society.

Noor was murdered in cold blood. There is no ambiguity in this. But the note appears to treat the murder as the “horrible consequence” of societal vice. When conclusions shift responsibility away from the perpetrator, it implies that the victim’s choices created the conditions for her own death.

For decades, our society has justified so-called honour killings, domestic abuse and even sexual violence by employing a similar reasoning: that the victim behaved in a way that offended norms, and therefore, suffered the ‘consequences’. For anyone to be seen to employ such reasoning in a case as horrifying and clear-cut as this, is unsettling.

Courts do not merely determine guilt, they signal values. When a private relationship is described as a “revolt” against religion and seen to be linked to murder, the takeaway for society is that the victim asked for it. Such a narrative emboldens those who seek to rationalise violence. It also distracts from the fundamental failures the case revealed, such as delayed interventions, passive bystanders and a perpetrator whose privilege enabled impunity until the final act was committed.

Justice was ultimately upheld and that is crucial. But justice must also be accompanied by reasoning anchored in law, not finger-wagging. At a time when gender-based violence remains rampant, especially among the married and those who don’t ignore “societal compulsions”, the principle should be reinforced that no woman invites harm by her choices.

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2025