PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has upheld the death sentence of a man convicted by the trial court of killing his wife, a sub-divisional education officer, in Khyber tribal district more than three years ago.
A bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah and Justice Inamullah Khan also rejected the convict’s request to reduce his sentence on humanitarian grounds, as he has three minor children.
Najeebullah was convicted by the sessions judge of Khyber district on Dec 13, 2025, and sentenced to death for the murder of Rizwana Shaheen.
The court also ordered himto pay Rs1 million compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased.
The SDEO was found dead in a pool of blood inside her official quarters at a government school in Merikhel area on June 17, 2023.
The murder had resulted into a public outcry, leading to the formation of a committee of senior prosecutors for pursuing the matter in the trial court.
The complainant in the FIR was a school watchman, Murad Ali, who was present with the body when the police showed up.
The complainant said that the woman was posted as SDEO and lived in a quarter situated on the school premises.
He added that on the day of murder, he reached the school and found the premises unattended and when he entered the residential quarter, he found the SDE O murdered with a sharp-edged object.
The appellant was later arrested. He had fled to Bannudistrict along with his three minor children after the wife’s killing.
According to the prosecution, Najeebullah didn’t have an independent source of livelihood and substantially depended on his wife for sustenance. He recorded his confessional statement before a magistrate.
Two minor daughters of the couple were also associated with the proceedings. Arisha appeared as a prosecution witness and testified against her father.
Thebench observed thatthe prosecution’s case didn’t depend on any solitary circumstance.
‘It rests upon the appellant’s departure from the matrimonial residence with the children after the occurrence; the deceased being left behind without any report or call for assistance; his subsequent appearance at Domail (Bannu); the discovery, at his pointation, of concealed articles includinghis blood-stained trouser and a knife; the forensic linkage of those articles with the deceased; and the substantive testimony of his daughter, read the 44-page detailed judgement in the case.
The bench further observed that the judicial confession of the appellant was voluntarily made, validly recorded and was worthy of reliance.
The appellant’s counsel contended that even if his client was not entitled to acquittal, the sentence of death called for reconsideration, principally because the deceased was his wife; they had three children, who, on the execution of their father, would face an uncertain future.
He said that the immediate cause of the fatal altercation, which resulted in the death of the deceased, remained obscure, suggesting a sudden occurrence rather than a premeditated killing.
‘The plea relating to the three children deserveshumane consideration but it cannot be viewed in isolation.
They are not merely the children of the appellant; they are equally the children of the deceased. Their loss of maternal care was the direct and irreversible consequence of the offence itself,’ the bench ruled.
It added that documentary evidence revealed that the deceased had previously suffered violence at the hands of the appellant, resulting even in the breaking of her teeth, where after she approached the family court seeking dissolution of marriage on the ground of cruelty.
The bench observed that intervention by local elders led to reconciliation, so the proceedings were withdrawn and the couple resumed cohabitation.
It added that the history of the relationship didn’t reveal aggression attributable to the deceased; rather, it reflected recurring aggressive conduct on part of the appellant.