Man ‘slays daughter-in-law for honour’

Suspect flew into fury seeing woman meet her acquaintance

CHICHAWATNI:

A young married woman and her male acquaintance were allegedly killed for honour in Chichawatani, police said.

Police said that Sufyan, an acquaintance of Ramsha, had visited her home to see her.

They said that the woman’s father-in-law, Faqir Muhammad, became suspicious of the nature of his daughter-in-law’s relations with Sufyan.

Besides, the fact that someone who had been a stranger to him had had the guts to visit his house to see his daughter-in-law was too much for Faqir Muhammad to digest.

He kept wondering about the nature of the relationship between Sufyan and Ramsha.

Police said that in a state of confusion and anger, Faqir Muhammad caught both of them and tortured them to death.

Upon receiving the information about the incident, police reached the spot in Okanwala Banga.

RPO Mehboob Rasheed took notice of the murder incident and sought a report from the DPO.

The RPO had ordered immediate arrest of the suspect.

The bodies were shifted to the hospital while police were conducting raids to arrest the suspect.

Hundreds of women are killed each year in the country by family members over perceived damage to “honour” that can involve eloping, fraternising with men or any other infraction against conservative values that govern women’s modesty.

The country adopted legislation against honour killings in 2016, introducing tough punishment and closing a legal loophole that allowed killers to walk free if pardoned by family members.

Rights groups estimate that nearly 1,000 such killings take place annually.

In October last year, a 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old boy were murdered by the former’s father reportedly in the name of "honour" in Kahna town of Lahore district.

As per details, the victim had eloped and started living with her friend Adnan Masih, which infuriated the girl's family.

The suspect on the day of the incident after finding an opportunity shot at the victims, killing them on the spot.

Police transferred the bodies to the morgue for autopsy and were investigating the matter after collecting evidence.

The Inspector General of Police had taken notice of the incident and sought a report of the incident from the CCPO of Lahore.

The Punjab IGP had directed the DIG (Operations) to constitute special teams to arrest the accused as soon as possible.

All five suspects including the prime accused Sharif Mayo were later arrested in the case.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2023.