MUZAFFARGARH:
A local court in Muzaffargarh acquitted the accused who slit the throats of his three minor sisters after the parents of the deceased girls pardoned their son.
The accused admitted to the crime during a police interrogation.
However, after nearly one year of his arrest, Additional Sessions Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Asif issued an acquittal order for the accused, following the parents’ consent to forgive their son.
The heart-wrenching incident occurred on July 18, 2023, when the mutilated bodies of three girls, 7-year-old Abiha, 8-year-old Zahra, and 11-year-old Arisha, were found in a residential quarter adjacent to their house in Thermal Colony, Muzaffargarh.
The accused had lured his sisters to an empty quarter of their house one by one, under the pretense of needing their help to catch a rooster.
According to the case details, Basit confessed to being envious of his sisters, believing they received excessive parental love and that his father favoured them.
The suspect told the police that he was inspired by the game PUBG, from which he learned about the style of killing he used on his sisters.
Initially, the suspect tried to evade the police. On the day he killed the girls, the accused Basit himself called Rescue 15 and informed the police that his sisters were missing. Later, he joined the police in their search for the girls.
However, after noticing a wound on his hand and blood particles under his fingernails, the police grilled him. He eventually confessed to the heinous crime.
Meanwhile, DPO Muzaffargarh Syed Hasnain Haider announced that the court’s written decision would be thoroughly reviewed before deciding whether to file an appeal against the acquittal.
Published in Dialogue Pakistan on 14 September 2024.
