Pakistan: SC upholds death sentence in ex-wife’s murder

The Supreme Court of Pakistan on August 15, 2026 upheld the death sentence of a convict Wasim Abbas in a jail petition case, declaring the murder of a woman for seeking khula (judicial divorce) an attack on the Constitution.

A three-member SC bench, headed by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and comprising Justice Salahuddin Panhwar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, announced judgment in a jail petition, filed by Wasim Abbas, who was sentenced to death in a murder case of his ex-wife.

The petitioner had challenged before the apex court the order passed by the Lahore High Court on June 20, 2025. The court, after hearing the case in length, dismissed the petition, upholding the death sentence of the convict. “Regarding the quantum of sentence, we find no extenuating or mitigating circumstances that could warrant any leniency or the commutation of the death penalty,” says a four-page judgment, authored by Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar.

As per the case, the convict had shot dead his former wife, Shehnaz Bibi on October 11, 2020, merely 48 hours after she was granted a decree of khula by a family court. He committed the murder over his resentment regarding the divorce. The court noted that the offence was perpetrated by the petitioner in an exceptionally brutal, calculated, premeditated and coldblooded manner inside the sanctity of the deceased’s home.

“In cases involving such deliberate acts of violence against women seeking their legal and marital rights, the capital penalty is fully justified to uphold the rule of law and satisfy the ends of justice,” says the judgment. “We find no perversity in the findings and misreading of evidence,” the court added and ruled that “the findings of the courts are well reasoned, based on proper appreciation of the entire evidence and are in consonance with the record.”

The court held that it being mindful of the constitutional imperative to protect the life and dignity of women and to ensure that those who exercise their lawful rights are not subjected to violence with impunity, finds no basis to interfere with the concurrent conviction. The court held that exercising the right to seek khula is a constitutional right of a woman, and that violence against her for exercising this right constitutes an attack on Articles 9, 14, and 25 of the Constitution.

The court observed that murdering a woman for seeking a legal right amounts to open defiance of the law and sheer brutality. The court noted that the testimony of relatives is admissible in cases involving crimes committed within the domestic sphere. “The forensic match between the pistol recovered from the crime scene and the bullet casings was also described as incontrovertible evidence of the crime,” says the judgment.

(Source: The News Pakistan, 16/08/2026)