The Supreme Court of Pakistan has commuted the death sentence of Muhammad Ameen, convicted of murdering his wife and daughter, to life imprisonment, granting him major relief in the case.
According to the detailed written judgment approved for reporting by the Supreme Court, the court partially set aside the decisions of the trial court and the high court, observing that executing the convict would effectively render his minor daughter an orphan under the custody of the state.
The judgment, authored by Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim, stated that the convict’s 15-year-old daughter, Insa Ameen, is his only surviving dependent. Therefore, maintaining the death penalty would not be appropriate in the circumstances.
The court clarified that converting the death sentence into life imprisonment did not amount to pardoning the crime, but rather ensured that the state did not become the cause of a child being left completely without support.
The judgment further noted that under international obligations, including relevant United Nations conventions, the state must consider the best interests of the child in such cases.
It also observed that when the legal heir of a victim is the accused himself, the punishment of Qisas could not be enforced under Section 306 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
According to the court record, Muhammad Ameen murdered his wife and daughter in April 2021 in Vehari district following a dispute over the sale of agricultural land. A day before the incident, the convict had argued with his wife and children over the land sale.
The judgment states that the convict stabbed his wife 21 times and his daughter eight times with a dagger, while another daughter was injured during the attack.
Earlier, both the trial court and the high court had sentenced the accused to death twice, but the Supreme Court later converted the punishment into life imprisonment.