If the prosecution sets up a motive that does not stand to reason and is not supported by evidence, the accused should not be sentenced to death.
The accused was convicted under PPC 302(b) and sentenced to death for the murder of his wife. The Lahore High Court upheld the conviction but commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. The complainant, maternal uncle of the deceased, claimed that the accused had killed her because he intended to contract a second marriage which the deceased opposed. The court found very strong evidence to support the conviction—witness accounts were corroborated by the medical examiner’s autopsy report, and there was strong circumstantial evidence because the accused fled town, did not inform police of his wife’s death and did not participate in his wife’s last rites. However, the court found that the motive alleged by the prosecution “[did] not stand to reason as the appellant could have divorced his wife if she was not giving him permission to marry again as alleged” and because the accused and the deceased had only recently been married themselves. The Court further noted that there was no evidence as to whom the accused wanted to marry. Because the motive was not proven and was not reasonable, the Supreme Court upheld the commutation.
