Supreme Court Reduces Woman’s Life Sentence to 14 Years in Husband’s Murder Case
ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court of Pakistan has reduced the life imprisonment sentence of a woman convicted of killing her husband to 14 years in prison.
A three-member bench headed by Justice Hashim Kakar heard the appeal in the murder case.
During the proceedings, defense counsel argued that the unemployed husband frequently subjected his wife to physical abuse and pressured her to obtain money from her parents. The lawyer told the court that the convicted woman, Afshan Sahar, was the mother of four children and that her mother had often provided financial assistance to the family.
According to the defense, the woman’s mother eventually refused to provide further financial support, after which the husband allegedly assaulted his wife. The lawyer contended that the accused reacted while facing threats to her dignity and safety.
The defense also informed the court that Afshan Sahar had been imprisoned since 2016 and had already spent nearly ten years behind bars.
The prosecutor argued that the woman struck her husband on the head, resulting in his death.
During the hearing, Justice Hashim Kakar remarked that in many murder cases husbands are accused of killing their wives, whereas this was the first case of its kind he had encountered in which a wife was convicted of killing her husband.
Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim noted that two of the convicted woman’s brothers had also been nominated in the case but were later acquitted.
Justice Kakar further observed that if the prosecution’s evidence alone were assessed, all three accused individuals could potentially have been acquitted.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the Supreme Court modified the sentence, reducing Afshan Sahar’s life imprisonment term to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment.
