The husband of alleged honour killing victim British-Pakistani Samia Shahid who was raped and killed in Jhelum has requested the Lahore High Court (LHC) to transfer the case of his wife’s murder to Lahore owing to security concerns.
Syed Mukhtar Kazim, the complainant in the case, made this request in a transfer application taken up by a single bench on Monday along with an objection put by the registrar office. The office had asked the petitioner to approach Rawalpindi bench of the high court.
However, Justice Abdul Sami Khan referred the matter to the chief justice as powers to transfer a case from one district to another rested with the top judge of the high court. The chief justice would hear the application on Oct 17.
Mr Kazim filed the petition through Advocate Malik Awais Khalid. The petitioner said he left the country due to death threats from the suspects. He said the suspects, including a father and first husband of Ms Shahid, were influential in Jhelum and could affect the trial proceedings.
Read more: Ex-husband, father charged with Samia Shahid’s murder
He also stated that the prosecution submitted an investigation report against the suspects before Additional District and Sessions Judge Ambreen Qureshi of Jhelum. However, he said, the suspects were in a position to hamper the dispensation of justice. Therefore, he asked the court to transfer the trial of the suspects from Jhelum to Lahore.
Samia, a 28-year-old beautician from Bradford, died in July while on a visit to Pakistan, supposedly to visit family members in the village of Pandori. Her family initially said she had suffered a heart attack but a post-mortem examination confirmed she died of asphyxiation.
Her second husband, Syed Mukhtar Kazim, claims his wife was a victim of an ‘honour killing’ as her family did not approve of their marriage.
Kazim lodged the FIR of Samia’s rape and murder on July 23 under sections 302, 34 and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code at Mangla police station, Jhelum. The charge-sheet against the prime suspects, the girl’s father and former husband, has been submitted before Jhelum Additional Sessions Judge Ambreen Qureshi.
Muhammad Shakeel is accused of murdering the British beautician, while her father Chaudhry Muhammad Shahid is being held as an accessory to murder. Both men are on judicial remand ahead of their next appearance on October 20.
Read more: Samia Shahid murder: Ex Husband, father appear in court as trial begins
