Lawyer charged with murder of sister

Conviction proceedings to begin on Oct 12.

HYDERABAD: Two months after advocate Javed Shaikh shot dead his sister inside the courtroom of Sindh High Court, an anti-terrorism court has charged him for the murder.

Conviction proceedings against the lawyer and four others nominated in the case will start from October 12, the ATC judge announced on Wednesday.

On August 1, Shaikh, the eldest son of the family, had killed his 19-year-old sister Raheela Sehto for marrying without the family’s consent. The woman was shot at point-blank range as the judges made their way to the court after a break at around 11:30 am.

The couple had earlier survived another attack in July when they had come to the Sindh High Court circuit bench to attend a hearing.

The freewill couple had married in court on June 30 - only a month before the tragic incident took place. However, Raheela’s family registered a kidnapping case against the man and the couple had to file a petition seeking protection from the high court.

On July 3, the couple had alleged that the woman’s family had been trying to kill them since the day they had married.

Raheela’s husband, Zulfiqar Sehto, had nominated Javed Shaikh, Bagh Ali Shaikh, Ashfaq Shaikh, Abdul Sattar Shaikh and Sodagar Shaikh for the murder of his wife in an FIR lodged under sections 302, 324 and 143 at the Cantt police station.

The police had arrested the killer red-handed while two of his accomplices were nabbed later.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2012.