Engineering student killed in Charsadda for 'talking to female cousin'

Owais was allegedly killed by his brother in law who didn't like the youth's relation with his niece

PESHAWAR:

In an unfortunate occurrence, an engineering student in Charsadda was killed on Saturday allegedly for 'speaking with his female cousin.'

Owais, a resident of the Mandani village of the district, was shot at and killed for spending time with his cousin and studying with her. His body was found in the fields of his village.

The youth was a student at Islamia College, Peshawar, and was killed when he was visiting his native village due to his college closing due to the COVID-19 outbreak. He was reportedly killed by his brother in law who didn't like Owais' relation with his niece.

The 17-year-old had always aspired to be an engineer and managed to secure a seat at the engineering department of the college after attaining 1,040 out of 1,100 marks in his matriculation examination. He was a position-holder student who wanted to excel in the discipline.

The admission to the college wasn't easy for Owais despite securing high grades, as his father worked as a mason and borrowed Rs78,000 to get him admitted to the college.

Talking to The Express Tribune, Owais' father said he wanted his son to receive higher education as he couldn't do so when he was in his youth. He added that he doesn't understand what crime his son had committed to receive such a punishment.

According to a report issued by Express News late last year, a combination of the loopholes in the law, police incompetence and poor prosecution has led to only 2% of the people involved in honour killing being punished over the last one year.

The report had quoted a police source as saying that the main reason for this abysmally low rate of conviction is that the aggrieved party tends to reconcile with the suspects and the matter never ends up in court.