An additional district and sessions judge awarded five people the death penalty today for the murder of two men in Chishtian sub-district in Bhawalanagar.
On 15 May 2011, Sajida Bibi, her husband Muhammad Aqeel, her brother-in-law Muhammad Mansha and her father-in-law Muhammad Zikriyah were attacked in their home. Aqeel and Sajida survived after four major surgeries but the others did not.
Bibi was a school teacher in Chishtian and had married Aqeel without her parents’ approval. She had inherited five and a half acres of land after her father’s death. Her marriage had previously been proposed with a cousin, Ataaullah.
Ataaullah, accompanied by Muhammad Asif, Muhammad Saleem, Muhammad Shafi, Muhammad Zaheer and Shaukat Ali, attacked Aqeel’s residence and fired at the family.
Aqeel had filed a complaint at the Dahraanwaala police station against six people for killing three people. Sakina, Bibi’s mother, was also named among the suspects.
Five of the accused were sentenced to death, seven years imprisonment and a fine of Rs50,000 each. Sakina was released for lack of evidence. The five accused had admitted to murder. They said they wanted to acquire the land that Bibi had inherited. When they demanded it, she had refused. They then tried to kill her entire family.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 26th, 2014.