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

More documents

Recommendations

Info

6. There are also problems with the categorisation of FIRs, where the offence is often filed under other categories as simple murder, lesser forms of violence, suicide, domestic violence etc. This contributes to the problems of recovery and collection of data, as well as to the misreporting of cases. On the converse side, a number of cases of domestic violence and domestic homicide were filed under the category of honour killings, revealing a lack of knowledge and understanding of the police officers about the crime of honour killing. 7. Lack of co-ordination and follow-up from different sectors of the justice sector also result in incomplete documentation where there is documentation. For example, if the police register a case, they do not follow up the case in court to arrive at the final result and consequence of the case. 8. An interesting aspect of the study was a comparison between registered FIRs and media reports. This resulted in mixed trends from Nowshera, where there were few media reported cases and even fewer registered cases, but a large number of cases reported word of mouth, to Naseerabad, where the media was shown to be extremely active with regular and accurate reporting. 9. An analysis of the FIRs has resulted in similar motives recorded behind these murders across the nation, which are based on the women’s attributes and behaviour, including: bad character; bad morals; bad behaviour; loose behaviour and morals; leaving the house with or without permission; illicit affairs (suspected or real); choosing to marry against the family’s wishes/elopement; wandering outside the house too often; running away; being the victim of abduction and being murdered for the shame of her abduction; leaving the husband/divorce; previous marriages 75
elationships; revenge; and meeting/friendship/conversation with a man not from the family, etc. 10. The language of the FIRs also reveals a number of problems, e.g. the language is extremely gender insensitive and displays a dismissive attitude towards violence against women. Moreover, there is also lack of relevant information. For example, there is often little or no background information or observations of the reporting officer on details of the incident for effective follow up investigation. The FIR is extremely minimal. The language and reporting of the incidents is surprisingly similar across the nation without anything extra. The police do not seem to ask any further questions, or ask for more information to give a complete holistic report. 11. An examination of the reported case law from across the country reveals an interesting contradiction. The Supreme Court has given clear judgments stating that if a crime is committed with premeditation, the plea of grave and sudden provocation may not be available to the accused and, in fact, that mere suspicion of illicit liaisons cannot be an excuse to commit murder and claim mitigating circumstance for lesser punishment. Strong statements were also made that if pleas such as grave and sudden provocation were accepted without any evidence, it would give a licence to kill innocent people. However, ironically, the Supreme Court did set a contrary standard that if the accused is able to prove that he was “deprived of the capability of self-control, or was swayed away by circumstances immediately preceding the act of murder, or there was an immediate cause leading to grave provocation” he may be allowed a mitigation in his sentence. Therefore, the judgments do leave some room for mitigation of sentence, but with a strict standard. 76
Page 2 and 3:
A Pilot Study on: ‘Honour Killing
Page 4:
Table of Contents Preface 1 Introdu
Page 8 and 9:
Preface Elimination of all negative
Page 10 and 11:
the nature and extent of its compli
Page 12 and 13:
Introduction The Criminal Law (Amen
Page 14:
formalised by the State and ‘lega
Page 17 and 18:
Gender is one of the organisational
Page 19 and 20:
their rights were achieved on paper
Page 21 and 22:
elatives), in effect excluding all
Page 24 and 25:
3. “Honour Killings”: their Pre
Page 26 and 27:
patrilineage 17 . From this follows
Page 28 and 29:
compensation negotiated to end a di
Page 30:
divorced or excommunicated, an act
Page 33 and 34: Article 340 of the Jordanian Penal
Page 35 and 36: monitor women’s movements and kil
Page 37 and 38: mitigation, compensation for the he
Page 39 and 40: The discretion of the court to deci
Page 41 and 42: down for such cases. This applies t
Page 43 and 44: to properly determine the issue bef
Page 45 and 46: Table 1: Number & Percentages of Ca
Page 47 and 48: the police stations are not even eq
Page 49 and 50: Findings of the Research The findin
Page 51 and 52: When asked about the lack of filing
Page 53 and 54: Gujrat Gujrat also shows a similar
Page 55 and 56: community. Perhaps this has been on
Page 57 and 58: eporting it will do when registerin
Page 59 and 60: Jillani reiterated Justice Abbasi
Page 61 and 62: death and it was subsequently disco
Page 63 and 64: Lahore High Court The Lahore High C
Page 65 and 66: meditation falling under the defini
Page 67 and 68: for conservative and biased interpr
Page 70 and 71: 6. Perspective of the Community Whi
Page 72 and 73: mindset and existing confining soci
Page 74 and 75: even if cases are brought to them,
Page 76 and 77: Role of the Community It is general
Page 78 and 79: court settlement is preferred. Such
Page 80 and 81: 7. Conclusion and Main Findings It
Page 84 and 85: 12. These precedents are not necess
Page 86 and 87: hold through these illegal forms of
Page 88: 24. The police can play a very nega
Page 91: The police system is in dire need o
show all

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

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?