ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court upheld a verdict of the Lahore High Court (LHC) in sororicide, the killing of one’s own sister, saying it is profoundly unfortunate that siblings who share a bond of companionship, trust, and mutual care from childhood should act in betrayal of this bond.
A two-member bench comprising Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim dismissed the petition.
The judgment noted that the confluence of ocular and medical evidence leads this Court (SC) to the irresistible conclusion that the conviction and sentence imposed upon the petitioner are neither baseless nor tainted with any legal infirmity. The High Court has rightly convicted and sentenced the petitioner through the impugned judgment, it added.
Justice Ibrahim, who authored the judgment, wrote; “When a brother takes the life of his own sister, the very person he is expected to protect, cherish, and love, it transcends mere criminality and becomes a grave moral rupture. Sororicide is an unnatural breach of trust that reverberates through the conscience of the community but alarmingly, such tragedies are becoming increasingly visible in our society, shattering families and leaving society itself to grapple with the loss of its most fundamental bonds,” the judgment further said.
The petitioner, Muhammad Munawar was tried by the trial Court in FIR No. 409/2013 dated 10.07.2013, registered under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) at Police Station Dijkot, Faisalabad for committing the murder of his sister, Shabana Bibi (deceased).
The trial court, upon the conclusion of case, convicted the petitioner under Section 302(b) PPC and sentenced him to imprisonment for life along with payment of compensation in the sum of Rs. 100,000/- to the legal heirs of the deceased under Section 544-A Cr.P.C., and in default thereof to undergo four months’ simple imprisonment.
The petitioner, feeling aggrieved by his conviction and sentence, preferred an appeal before the Lahore High Court; which dismissed the petition and maintained the conviction and sentences. The petitioner then approached the Supreme Court, which upheld the LHC judgment.
The alleged motive underlying the occurrence, as suggested by the prosecution, was that the complainant and Shabana Bibi had solemnised a marriage of their own choice approximately seventeen years prior to the incident, which purportedly displeased the petitioner and prompted him to commit the offence. However, this purported motive does not withstand scrutiny. The couple had lived together for nearly two decades and were blessed with five children during this period, without any untoward incident, rendering the suggested grudge implausible.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026
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