In cold blood: Husband in jail for killing wife - or not?

Kanwal’s brother alleges that he saw Kamran go into the bedroom with a loaded pistol.

SUKKUR: The authorities have failed to determine the motive behind the murder of 22-year-old Sadia Kanwal on July 26. They allege that her husband Mohammad Kamran shot her in their house in the Jamali Muhalla of Adam Shah Colony.

Kanwal married Kamran in 2008, the couple had one child together. The police report states that on the night of the murder, the couple had a disagreement because Kamran had dined with another woman. The quarrel spiraled out of control and Kamran shot his wife. They arrested Kamran and Kanwal’s body was taken to Civil hospital.

An FIR, No. 143/2011, under section 302 and 504 of the Penal Code was filed against him by his father-in-law Mehmood Hussain Shaikh at the A Section police station.

Kamran was presented in court soon after and was sent to Sukkur Central Jail II on judicial remand. He, however, claims that his wife killed herself.

Domestic squabble or premeditated murder?

The post-mortem report shows that Kanwal was shot in the head from behind at point blank range which implies that she did not shoot herself. Her family says that Kanwal was pregnant with her second child and that there was something seriously wrong with her marriage.

“My daughter was not allowed to visit us, her husband used to bring her over for an hour or so and then take her back,” said her mother Ameer Bano. “Whenever she came to visit I could see a thousand complaints in her eyes but she never uttered a word against him.” Bano claims that her daughter might have known about Kamran’s illegal activities and been hesitant to share details.

Her 12-year-old brother Arsalan told The Express Tribune that he witnessed the couple having an argument on the day of the murder. “My sister ran to her bedroom and her husband followed her inside with a loaded pistol,” he said. “My younger sister and I heard a gunshot and then my brother-in-law came out and told us that my sister had shot herself.” Arsalan added that he saw his sister’s body lying in a pool of blood.

The authorities claim that Kamran was inconsistent with his confession. At first he claimed that his wife had killed herself and then blamed her brother for her death and later claimed that he accidently shot her while cleaning the pistol. Kanwal’s mother alleges that her two-year-old grandson was the only witness of the murder and expressed his pain and misery by pulling his own hair.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 18^th, 2011.