PAKISTAN: A husband suffocated and drowned his wife on the pretext of an honour killing 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information of yet another honour killing case in Shikarpur District, Sindh Province, Pakistan. According to this information, 22-year-old, Ms. Soneet was killed by her husband, Mohammad Sidique on 17 September 2005. It was reported that Mohammed Sidique killed his wife on suspicion of her having had extra-marital relations with her relative, Mr. Noor Mohammad. A First Investigation Report (FIR) No. 162/05 under Sections 302, 201 Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) has been registered regarding this case at the New Faujdari police station, whose officials maintain that an investigation is underway, but has not been completed as yet. However, our sources say that the police are in fact avoiding the case and have said that the victim’s death is a “private matter”. The police are apparently also of the view that both sides will reconcile their differences once in court.

Honour killings are an extreme form of violence against women and have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of women in Pakistan. It is only with continued pressure on the Pakistan government to implement policy to prevent and punish this heinous crime that the practice may eventually be stopped.

Your urgent action is required in this matter. Please send a letter to the local authorities and request them to arrest the alleged perpetrators as soon as possible and conduct an independent investigation into this case. Please also urge the Sindh State government to take genuine action to prevent honour killings in the future.

Urgent Appeals Desk
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of Victim: Ms Soneet, 22, wife of Mohammad Sidique (the perpetrator), by caste Banglani, mother of three children, two of whom have passed away
Perpetrator: Mohammad Sidique (husband of the victim), resident of Bahram Banglani Village, near Sindh Wah, Shikarpur Subdivision, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province – Pakistan
Complainant: Qalab Ali, son of Ghulam Nabi (uncle of the perpetrator), resident of Bahram Banglani Village, near Sindh Wah, Shikarpur Subdivision, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province – Pakistan
Witnesses:
1) Inayatullah, son of the complainant
2) Ali Gohar, son of Guhram by caste Banglani (cousin of the complainant)
Date of Incident: 17 September 2005, 9:30am
Place of incident: Bahram Banglani Village, near Sindh Wah, Shikarpur Subdivision, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province – Pakistan
Case reported: 17 September 2005, 7:30pm at New Faujdari police station

CASE DETAIL :

On 20 September 2005 a local human rights organisation in Pakistan came to know about the brutal murder of Ms Soonet by her husband, Mohammad Sidique. Mohammad Sidique believed that his wife had had extra-marital relations with one of her relatives, Mr. Noor Mohammad and therefore killed her. He then dumped her body in a canal and walked away. The body has not been seen since.

Meanwhile, Noor Mohammad and his family have had to escape from their village due to the imminent danger they would face should they stay. This is because it is common practice in Pakitan for a person who kills his female relative in the name of honour to kill her paramour too.

Mr. Abdul Ghafar, the son of Gulan by caste Banglani (brother of the victim) came forward to seek help in bringing the perpetrators to account for their actions. As a result, a First Investigation Report (FIR) No. 162/05 under Sections 302, 201 PPC (Pakistan Penal Code) was registered at the New Faujdari police station. The complaint was officially lodged by Mr. Qalab Ali who is the uncle of the perpetrator.

In the FIR it is mentioned that Ms. Soneet and her husband had a quarrel on the evening of 16 September 2005 before the complainant and the witnesses. On 17 September 2005 at about 8:00 am, the perpetrator took his wife and his son Faazul and went somewhere. When the complainant asked him where he was taking his family, he replied that he was going to leave his wife and son with her parents. At 5pm that day however, Mohammad Sidique returned along with his son, but his wife was not with them. When the witnesses and the complainant asked him about his wife, he replied that he had killed his wife having suffocated her due to the quarrel and had thrown her body in Sindh Canal. The witnesses and complainant immediately left the home and approached the Station House Officer (SHO) at the New Faujdari police station to register the FIR.

A fact-finding mission conducted by our source discovered that the allegations of extra-marital relations between the victim and Mr. Noor Mohammad were in fact true. However, Mohammad Sidique’s decision to take the law into his own hands and to murder his wife in retaliation for her actions is entirely unacceptable and highly illegal.

The police have informed the local human rights organisation in Pakistan that they are pursuing the matter and they will inform that organisation of their findings once their investigations are complete. However, the human rights organization believes that the police have done little in bringing the perpetrators to justice and in attempting to locate the dead body. The police have themselves admitted that they believe this to be a private matter, and that it is one that will be settled in the courts.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION:

Cases such as this are often disposed compoundable under the Ordinance of Qisas and Dayat. Dayat (law of compensation) and Qisas (law of retaliation) refer to the cases of bodily injury or loss of life. The punishment of murder is death or imprisonment by Pakistan law. But according to the Ordinance of Qisas and Dayat, if the guardian of the victim forgives the offender and the offender provides compensation to the victim’s family or guardian, the offender can be released without any punishment.

In Pakistan, the practice of honour killings appears that any action, real or fabricated, if deemed by the family as compromising their honour, may be considered a valid reason to commit murder. While illegal according to national laws and inconsistent with Islamic doctrine in both the Koran and Sharia, the lack of consistent positive action by Pakistani law enforcement agencies and the seemingly commonplace belief in the practice of honour killings, facilitate this inhuman practice.

Moreover, the decisions of such cases are frequently taken by the landlords (tribal court) rather than by the courts of law. In their decisions they impose heavy fines to the accused male and the killer receives a light penalty considering that they committed murder to protect their ‘honour.’ Even if the honour killing case goes to the legal court, the victim’s family often receives immense pressure from society to compromise with the accused according to the Ordinance of Qisas and Dayat. Therefore, it is difficult for the victims of this case to expect a fair trial or justice.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send a letter, fax or email to the relevant authorities listed below urging their immediate intervention in this matter.

 

 

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