KARACHI: A sessions court has exonerated a man from charges pertaining to the murder of his wife and three underage daughters after legal heirs of the victims pardoned him in the name of Allah.

Accused Muhammad Fawad had slaughtered his wife Huma, 40, and his three daughters and tried to take his own life in his home in Malir’s Shamsi Society within the remit of the Al-Falah police station in November 2022.

Total six legal heirs — accused’s mother, his mother-in-law, sister-in-law, two brothers-in-law and his own brother —moved applications before Additional District and Session Judge (East) Aziz Ur Rehman Junejo under Section 345 (2) of the criminal procedure code (CrPC) seeking permission to compound the offence.

In their statement before the court, they stated that they had “pardoned the accused in the name of Almighty Allah without any compulsion” and coercion and have “no objection if the accused is acquitted”.

They also waived their right to Diyat as well as Qisas against the accused.

Accused Fawad had slaughtered his family and attempted to take his own life in November 2022 in their Malir home

“They [legal heirs] attested application under Section 345 (2) of the CrPC along with their supporting affidavits and application under Section 345 (6) of the CrPC along with supporting affidavits and proforma for acceptance of compromise for waive of Diyat and confirmed their signature thereon,” the judge stated in the verdict.

After hearing the legal heirs of the deceased persons and completing legal formalities, the court exonerated Fawad, who appeared on bail, from the murder charges.

“I am of view that the legal heirs of deceased persons and accused, who is the husband/father of the deceased persons, have patched up their differences outside the court and buried their hatchets. The compromise has been effected without duress and coercion. Therefore, there is no impediment in allowing compromise application,” the court ruled.

The court also noted that the state prosecutor Pervez Ahmed Qureshi also submitted “no objection” to the compromise application.

Accused Fawad had murdered his wife and three daughters and also tried to commit suicide in 2022. At that time, his mother and suspect brother’s wife had told the police that they lived at the ground floor and heard screams from the upper floor of the house in the afternoon.

They quickly went upstairs and somehow managed to open the door and saw the bodies and injured Fawad in separate rooms. They also told the police that the couple might have had some friction like most couples, but there was “no serious issue” between them.

Fawad previously worked as a salesman in a packaged spices factory, but around 10-20 days before the incident he had switched to a different company. He also worked as an ‘investor’ in the food industry and had suffered some financial losses, the police had said.

A case was registered against him at the Al-Falah police station under Sections 302 (murder), 325 (attempt to commit suicide) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

However, the accused was not charged with attempting to commit suicide as the then president in December 2022 had approved the Criminal Laws (Amendment) Act 2022, which repealed Section 325 of the PPC.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2024