An additional district and sessions judge in Multan has handed a death sentence to the husband of a 20-year-old pregnant woman who was found dead last year, ruling that the case was murder disguised as suicide.

On July 9, 2024, Sania Zehra, a mother of two, was discovered hanging from a ceiling fan in her room. Syed Asad Abbas, her father, denied the suicide claim, claiming that his daughter's in-laws murdered her.

Police at the New Multan station filed a case under Sections 148 (rioting with a dangerous weapon), 149 (unlawful assembly), and 302 (intentional murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) in response to his allegation.

Additional Sessions Judge Mohsin Ali Khan found the husband, Syed Muhammad Ali Raza, "duly convicted of the Qatal-i-Amd of Sania Zehra" in a one-page order dated November 18.

According to Section 302(b) of the PPC, which stipulates that anyone found guilty of Qatal-i-Amd faces either death or life in jail, he was given the death penalty as Ta'zir.

“Syed Muhammad Ali Raza convict shall be hanged by neck till his death is pronounced.” 

The court also directed him to pay Rs500,000 as compensation to Zehra’s family under Section 554-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 adding that “if he defaults, he will undergo six months’ imprisonment."

Two separate court orders  also found Raza’s brother, Syed Haider Raza, and his mother, Syeda Azra Parveen, guilty of Zehra’s murder.

The court sentenced both to life imprisonment, with each ordered to pay Rs500,000 to the victim’s family.

The FIR, narrating the father’s account, states that he was called by a police official and asked to rush to his daughter’s home. When the family arrived, they found Zehra hanging from a ceiling fan.

According to the complaint, when a forensic expert attempted to untie the noose, it opened unusually easily, raising suspicion. A doctor present at the scene told the family that the victim had died around 6pm the same evening.

The police registered a case under sections 302, 148, and 149 of the PPC against deceased’s husband Ali Raza, his brother Haider, father Jeevan Shah, mother Azra Bibi, sister Kanwal Bibi, and sister-in-law Syeda Dua on the complaint of the deceased’s father.