LHC commutes woman's life term to 10-year jail for killing her two sons

Lahore High Court Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafique issued a 20-page decision on the appeal of Shagufta Parveen., the bodies of Shagufta Parveen’s three-year-old son Abdul Hadi and nine-month-old son Abdul Rahim were found at their home in Hafizabad on November 9, 2022. The accused was also shifted to the hospital in an injured condition.

The trial court had sentenced her to two life sentences on June 28, 2024, for the murder of the two children, while she was also sentenced to pay compensation of Rs200,000 to the heirs of each child and six months in prison for the crime of attempted suicide.

In the judgment, Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafique, while reviewing sections 306 (B), 308 and 302 (C) of the Pakistan Penal Code, ruled that under the law, parents may be exempted from the punishment of Qisas for the murder of their children, but this does not mean that they are acquitted of the crime of murder or that they cannot be punished.

Qisas means the legal punishment of retaliation in return for murder, while punitive punishment is the punishment that a court gives under the law upon conviction of a crime., under Section 302(C), a sentence of up to 25 years in prison can be imposed in circumstances where Qisas is not applicable.

The court held that in the present case, the accused was found guilty of murder, but she could not be punished under Qisas, therefore, instead of upholding life imprisonment, the sentence was imposed under Section 302(C).

The court, after reviewing the extrajudicial confession, witness statements, medical records, and forensic evidence, found the accused responsible for the murder of the children., conflict with her husband and mental stress do not legally prove mental incompetence, however, the circumstances of the case may be important when determining the sentence.

The Lahore High Court partially accepted the appeal and commuted the life sentence in the murder case of the two children to ten years of rigorous imprisonment, payment of compensation to the heirs of the children, six months of imprisonment for the crime of attempted suicide, and other relevant orders were upheld.

The court also upheld the order to run all the sentences concurrently and to give the benefit of Section 382-B of the Criminal Code.