According to a report in Dawn, the bench, comprising Justice Syed Arshid Ali and Justice Wiqar Ahmad, accepted an appeal filed by the convict Umer farooq, a resident of Bakhshu Pul area. In its decision, the bench observed that the recorded evidence did not connect the convict with the offence.
The parents of the appellant, who are also legal heirs of the murdered girl, had reached a compromise with their son and had forgiven him. However, the decision of the bench was not based on this compromise but on the lack of concrete evidence. An accused in an honour-related crime cannot be acquitted on the basis of compromise.
According to the station house officer (SHO) of Faqirabad, in January of 2018 he had received information about a person who had murdered his sister and buried her secretly. Upon his arrest, the suspect informed the police where he had buried the body. He had also confided to police that his father-in-law and brother-in-law had helped in the commission of his crime.
Later, the police had alleged that the appellant suspected that his sister was having relations with one of their former neighbours.
The SHO stated that the body was exhumed and the autopsy report also confirmed that the girl was strangulated to death.
The appellant’s advocate argued that the prosecution could not prove the motive behind the offence as the police had alleged that the appellant suspected his sister to be having relations with a neighbour but had not produced any evidence in this regard.
He also said that the appellant had not recorded any confessional statement nor was the autopsy report clear about the cause of the girl’s death.