LHC cuts woman’s life sentence, rules qisas exemption does not absolve parents of child murder

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has ruled that parents may be exempt from qisas (retribution) for killing their children but cannot escape criminal punishment, while reducing a mother’s two life sentences to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment each for the murder of her young sons.

LHC Judge Justice Muhammad Amjad Rafiq, in a 20-page written judgment on an appeal filed by Shagufta Parveen, held that the non-applicability of ‘qisas’ did not mean an accused parent was acquitted of murder.

The court ruled that a sentence could instead be imposed under Section 302(c) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), which provides for imprisonment of up to 25 years where ‘qisas’ is not applicable under Islamic injunctions.

The high court partly allowed Parveen’s appeal, altering her conviction from Section 302(b) to Section 302(c) of the PPC and reducing the sentences imposed for the two murders to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment each.

The court maintained the orders requiring her to pay Rs200,000 in compensation to the heirs of each child and upheld her six-month sentence for attempting suicide.

It also ordered that all substantive sentences run concurrently and retained the benefit granted to her under Section 382-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which allows the court to account for time spent in custody before conviction.

Parveen’s three-year-old son, Abdul Hadi, and nine-month-old son, Abdul Raheem, were found dead at their home in Hafizabad on November 9, 2022.

The Sessions Court in Hafizabad had sentenced her to life imprisonment on two counts of murder on June 28, 2024, and ordered her to pay compensation to the children’s heirs.

In its judgment, the high court examined the legal distinction between exemption from ‘qisas’ and criminal liability for murder.

It noted that Section 306(b) of the PPC provides that a person who causes the death of their child or grandchild is not liable to ‘qisas’. However, the court held that the legal protection against retribution did not, by itself, remove the possibility of punishment under the applicable provisions of the law.

The court said Section 302(c) could be invoked where ‘qisas’ was not applicable under Islamic injunctions, allowing a court to impose a prison sentence despite the exemption from retribution.

The judgment also addressed the circumstances surrounding the killings, including the appellant’s domestic difficulties and mental state. It held that marital discord and psychological stress, by themselves, did not establish legal mental incapacity.

The court considered the circumstances relevant to determining the appropriate punishment but did not treat them as grounds for acquittal.

The appeal was consequently allowed in part, with the murder convictions and other orders modified only to the extent specified in the judgment.