An additional session judge in Toba Tek Singh on Monday sentenced two men involved in murdering a woman in her family.
Maria Bibi was killed by her father Abdul Sattar and her brother Faisal in Chak 477-JB Permishal on March 17, 2024. Her body was exhumed by the autopsy on March 28 after a video of the crime became viral on social networks and received large-scale protests.
The main defendant, Faisal, had confessed the murder in Chamber, recorded by people from the media while he was in police custody on March 31, a day after his arrest. He said he had raped and strangled his sister to cover an incestuous relationship with her. However, an DNA report had shown that the girl was not raped or pregnant as previously alleged.
Subsequently, the police had mentioned in the first information report (FIR) and challan in the case that the girl was killed by her father and brother in the name of the honor and the FIR previously registered under sections 34 (common intention), 201 (causing the disappearance of the evidence of the crime, or giving false information of the screen) and 302 (murder) of the Pakistan Criminal Code (PPC) had been threatened and section 311 (Honor Killing.
Faisal’s brother, Shahbaz and his wife Sumaira, were also arrested in a case separated by the position of hiding the murder of the police. They had told the Police that Maria had informed them one day before she kill that Faisal and her father had violated her. Shahbaz had affirmed that he had secretly made a video of the murder pretending to be talking to his other sister, Kausar, by phone.
Additional session Judge Abdul Hafeez Bhutta presided over an hearing for the case today and issued his verdict.
A short order, a copy of which is available with Dawn.comHe said that Shahbaz and Sumaira were acquitted by extending the benefit of the doubt and ordered the release of the first with the second already on bail.
“The Prosecutor’s Office has successfully demonstrated its case against the accused people Muhammad Faisal and Abdul Sattar beyond the reasonable doubt. Therefore, I condemned Muhammad Faisal under section 302 (b) PPC and felt it to death as a Tazir for committing the murder of María Bibi.
“I also condemned Abdul Sattar under section 302 (b) PPC read with 34 ppc and felt it to death as a tazir for his common intention shared in the murder of Maria Bibi. They are hanging by the neck until they are dead,” says the order, adding that the sentence was the subject of the Superior Court of Lahore (LHC).
They also ordered them to pay compensation of RS10,000,000 each to the legal heirs of Mary under section 544a of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which will be recovered as delays of income from the land.
He added that they would submit to six months of simple imprisonment in case of lack of payment. The order ordered that the convicts be sent back to the district prison by commitment orders for the execution of the sentence granted and that the case registration is sent to the LHC to confirm the death sentence.
Finally, he said that convicts could appeal against the verdict within 30 days.
A statement from the office of the Punjab Attorney General, Syed Farhad Ali Shah, explained how the authorities had taken a quick notice of the case and assigned a high priority to see it to the sentence.
“It is the responsibility of the Prosecutor’s Office to bring justice to the justice that Punjab prosecutors are doing well using all their capabilities,” Shah said.
Talk with Dawn.comHe said that the results of the high profile cell established by him were realized, and added that the prosecutor’s office supervised a case at each stage from registration to the verdict.
“The investigation was completed by virtue of the law against the violation. The sentences are being issued in cases after the complete implementation of the rules of the law against Viengue. The verdict in the case of Mary murder is proof that the high profile cell of the Punjab prosecutor’s general office is completely active,” he said.
