Clean chit: Man acquitted of wife’s murder

Parents of the deceased claim they mistakenly accused son-in-law

LAHORE: A man accused of murdering his wife was acquitted by a districts and sessions court on Tuesday after the victim’s heirs withdrew the murder charges against their son-in-law.

According to the prosecution, the suspect Abdul Ghafoor had married two women and allegedly murdered one of them named Nazia reportedly after a scuffle over some domestic issues.

Nazia’s mother Parveen Javed and stepfather Abad Ali, the complainant, recorded their statements before the court, stating they had no objection if Abdul was acquitted in the case. They said the man was mistakenly implicated.

The mother of the deceased said she was content with the conclusion that her daughter had committed suicide and was not murdered by her son-in-law, as mistakenly claimed by the family.

After hearing all arguments, the court acquitted Ghafoor from all charges.

According to an FIR registered by Abad with the Harbanspura police, his stepdaughter had two sons out of wedlock with Ghafoor and she was regularly beaten up by her husband over petty issues, especially on the issue of having a second wife. He accused the man of murdering his stepdaughter on January 30.

The police began investigations and a charge-sheet was submitted against Ghafoor in the court. But later the family of the deceased denied recognising the man as the accused and stated they had no objection to the accused being acquitted.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26^th, 2016.