‘Honour’ crime: Three women killed ‘for loose morals’

Police arrest one of the two suspects who admits to killing wife, sister and mother-in-law.

DERA GHAZI KHAN:

Kot Chuttha police have arrested a man who has admitted to killing his wife, Samina, her sister (his brother’s wife) and their mother in collusion with his brother in a Dera Ghazi Khan village.

Talking to The Express Tribune at the police station, Ismaeel said he did not believe he had committed a crime. “My wife and her sister (his brother’s wife) had loose morals. They deserved death. I can’t let my wife talk to other men,” he said. He said he had caught Samina (his wife) talking to a man over cell phone.

The suspect said he and his brother, Imran, had shot and killed Samina and Zarmina, their wives, and their mother, Kulsoom, on Friday night. “Their mother was to blame for it. She had failed to raise her daughters in accordance with our traditions. I had warned her (mother-in-law) several times to control her daughters,” he said.

According to the FIR registered on a complaint filed by the father of the deceased sisters, Mukhtar, the suspects had came to his house on Friday night to ask their wives to return home with them.

Mukhtar said Samina and Zarmina had left their husbands’ home a week ago and had been living at their parents’ house in Basti Damraywala. He said his daughters had married the suspects about six months ago. He said whenever the deceased visited him they complained about their husbands’ behaviour. “They would always complain about their husbands beating them and quarreling with them,” he said.

During Friday’s visit, Mukhtar said, the suspects had started quarrelling with his daughters and their mother over their refusal to accompany them back home. “I was in a room next door and could hear the arguments,” he said.

Suddenly, he said, he heard gunshots and the women’s cries. “They had killed my daughters and wife. There was no way I could defend myself against them so I thought the best course was to escape and report the matter to the police,” he said. “I rushed out of the house by jumping over the back wall to escape,” he said.

Talking to the Tribune, several residents of Basti Damraywala said whenever the suspects came to visit their in-laws they would complain about their wives’ conduct.

SHO Malik Ramazan said a police team had caught Ismael on Saturday while he was trying to escape to the Tribal Area adjacent to Dera Ghazi Khan.

He said two police teams were raiding the nearby villages to arrest his brother.

The SHO said an FIR had been registered against the suspects under Section 302 of the PPC.

Police have sent the bodies to District Headquarters (DHQ) Hospital for a post mortem examination.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2012.