ISLAMABAD: Rejecting an appeal of a convict who murdered his former wife just two days after she obtained a judicial decree dissolving their marriage, the Supreme Court on Saturday ruled that women who exercise their lawful rights should not be subjected to violence with impunity.
“This Court, being mindful of the constitutional imperative to protect the life and dignity of women and to ensure that those who exercise their lawful rights are not subjected to violence with impunity, finds no basis to interfere with the concurrent conviction,” observed Justice Mohammad Hashim Khan Kakar.
Headed by Justice Kakar, a three-judge Supreme Court bench, consisting of Justice Salahuddin Panwhar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, had taken up the convict’s plea against the rejection of his appeal by Lahore High Court on June 25, 2025.
According to the prosecution’s case, Wasim Abbas on Oct 11, 2020, at approximately 3pm forcibly entered the house of Irshad Begum in Lahore. Armed with a .30-bore pistol, he was accompanied by two unidentified accomplices on a motorcycle.
Women who exercise their lawful rights should not be subjected to violence with impunity, says judgement
The petitioner entered a room where his former wife, Shehnaz Bibi, and Naeem Bibi were resting on charpoys. After taunting the deceased about her demand for divorce, Abbas fired multiple shots at her, inflicting six firearm wounds to her abdomen, hand, thighs and back. An accomplice fired an additional shot below her right knee. The woman succumbed to her injuries at the scene.
The Supreme Court noted that the motive was a deep-seated resentment stemming from the deceased’s successful suit for dissolution of marriage. An ex parte divorce decree had been passed in her favour on Oct 9, 2020 – merely 48 hours before the murder.
Justice Kakar, writing the judgement, noted that the deceased had lawfully exercised her rights under the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939, and the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance, 1961.
The four-page judgement underscored the constitutional obligation under Articles 9, 14, and 25 of the Constitution to protect the life, dignity and equal treatment of all citizens, including women.
The judgement also cited 2019 Shazia Perveen case to highlight that a woman who seeks legal dissolution of marriage through proper judicial process was exercising a fundamental right.
“Any violence perpetrated against her for exercising such right strikes at the very heart of the constitutional order and must be met with the full rigour of the law.”
Earlier, the trial court had convicted Abbas under Section 302(b) PPC, sentencing him to death as Ta’zir along with a direction to pay Rs500,000 in compensation to the legal heirs under Section 544-A Cr.P.C.
He was also convicted under Section 449 PPC and sentenced to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment with a fine of Rs50,000. All sentences were ordered to run concurrently.
The Supreme Court found the ocular evidence provided by Irshad Begum and Naeem Bibi to be “reliable, trustworthy and confidence inspiring.”
The court noted that as inmates of the deceased’s parental home, they were natural witnesses to the domestic crime.
The court stated that the occurrence took place in broad daylight, reducing any possibility of mistaken identity. Abbas was personally known to the witnesses by name and face as the former husband of the deceased.
Additional corroborating evidence included the recovery of the crime weapon on Abbas’ pointation with ballistic examination confirming that the empties recovered from the scene matched the seized weapon. Medical evidence also provided strong corroboration to the prosecution’s case.
Rejecting any leniency, the bench observed that “no extenuating or mitigating circumstances” existed to warrant commutation of the death penalty. The court characterised the offence as “exceptionally brutal, calculated, premeditated, and cold-blooded,” carried out inside the sanctity of the deceased’s home.
Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2026