LAHORE: A First Information Report (FIR) that was registered against the nominated killers of social media celebrity Qandeel Baloch has been transformed into a non-compoundable FIR, making it impossible for Qandeel’s family to pardon her killers, the police said on Monday.
A senior police officer investigating the case said that Sections 311 and 305 of the Pakistan Penal Code had been added to the FIR. Advocate Balak Shair Khosa appreciated the step and said, “There cannot be an agreement [after this]. These sections were created to end karo-kari. Now that they have added them to the FIR, the victim’s family cannot forgive the killers as the state has become a complainant. It will be taken as a murder against the state.”
Section 305, maintains that the wali (legal guardian) will be heir of the victim, but excludes the accused or convict in case of wilful murder, if committed in the name or on the pretext of honour. Section 311 refers to the legal proceedings following the waiver or the compounding of right of qisas (right of the legal guardian, if the court approves, to take life of the killer) in willful murder.
Qandeel, model and actress, was strangled to death by her brother Waseem in her house in Karimabad area of Multan in the early hours of Saturday. Her father claimed that she was killed by her younger brother in the name of ‘honour’.
Waseem had also confessed in a press conference that he had drugged and strangled his sister with the motive that “she brought dishonour to the Baloch name” due to her risque videos and statements which she posted on social media.
The police said that Mufti Qavi is also being investigated in connection with her killing. Earlier, he was censured for appearing in “selfie” photographs with Qandeel and was also from the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee after the photographs were published
The police said that now he was also part of their investigation into her murder. “We have decided to widen the scope of the investigation and include Mufti Abdul Qavi in the probe,” the police chief in the town of Multan Azhar Ikram said.
Qavi has denied any involvement in her murder but told a news agency on Monday that he would present himself to the police if summoned for questioning. “The police were also investigating Qandeel’s other brother, Mohammad Aslam, who is a junior army officer,” Ikram said.
After Qandeel’s death her father, Mohammad Azeem, filed a police report against both his sons, alleging that Aslam had encouraged Waseem to carry out the killing. The police have declined to comment on Aslam’s role.