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

12. These precedents are not necessarily being followed in other
courts. In Lahore, specifically, there have been a number of
contradictory judgments. There are judgments that clearly state
that there is no room for honour killings, and any such killings
will be considered as simple murder with no mitigating factors.
But there is a large amount of case law available from the Lahore
High Court over the years that continues to provide grave and
sudden provocation as an acceptable plea to reduce sentences for
murder in cases involving ‘honour.
13. The Sindh High Court has specifically given some very positive
statements, including focusing on the involvement of the whole
family in the conspiracy of murder. Other judgments, however,
time and time again allow ghairat and ‘honour’ as a mitigating
factor allowing perpetrators lesser sentences and, on occasion
their freedom! Grave and sudden provocation is being used widely
and freely as honour is now considered an extenuating ground for
granting a lesser punishment. The term masoom-ud-dam, which
technically should not be used in cases involving honour crimes,
has been used in judgments, laying the blame on the victim,
indicating her behaviour has resulted in her ‘rightful’ death, as
‘No religion allowed widespread immorality to destroy the fabric
of family life’.
14. The superior judiciary in Balochistan and KPK does not seem to
have any recorded cases involving honour killings. This, along
with the above mentioned judgments has resulted in an acceptance
of honour killings by a number of the courts, which goes against
the spirit of the law and against all human rights.
15. Interviews conducted with the families of the victims and
perpetrators resulted in a number of interesting revelations.
Firstly, both the families are often the same, and the general
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