'Honour Killings' in Pakistan and Compliance of ... - Aurat Foundation

In the very first reported case post the 2004 51 law, Justice Muhammad
Nawaz Abbasi stated that, “[t]he commission of an offence due to ghairat
or family honour must be differentiated from the grave and sudden
provocation in consequence to which crime is committed in the light of
facts and circumstances of each case”. He notes that if a crime is
committed with premeditation, the plea of grave and sudden provocation
may not be available to the accused.
Justice Abbasi provided further clarification on this issue in a case
decided later in the year 52 . He noted that while “[i]t is correct that in our
Society, the illicit liaison of a female of the family is not tolerated but
mere suspicion of such relations cannot be an excuse to commit murder
and claim mitigating circumstance for lesser punishment. In this case, the
court did not accept the actions of the accused were ‘neither grave nor
sudden’ ”, and therefore not satisfactory for the mitigation of sentence.
Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani further elaborated on the defence of
grave and sudden provocation in Pakistani law in the case of Abdul
Jabbar 53 . The High Court in this case had mitigated the sentence of death
for murder in a case where the brother and first cousin of the victim
murdered the young woman, as she had married without the consent of
her family. The High Court stated that, “In our society nobody forgives
any person who marries his sister or daughter without the consent of
his parents or his near relations,” and seeing the victim with her
husband caused grave and sudden provocation. While over-turning
the decision of mitigation of sentence by the High Court, Justice
51 Muhammad Ameer v. The State 2006 PLD 283
52 Muhammad Arshad v. The State, 2006 SCMR 89
53 Abdul Jabbar v. The State, 2007 SCMR 1496
51