Life term confirmed for man who killed woman for not wearing burqa

Taking a serious view of moral policing over enforcement of burqa turning brutal, the Supreme Court has upheld life term to a man who slashed a woman repeatedly resulting in her death.



The enforcement of burqa by force happened in Annu Nagar in Bhopal in December 1997. Zarina was sitting outside her house and was rolling beedis when the accused, Rafiq Khan, came and objected to her being without a burqa.
He offered her money to buy one. She refused to take the money and asked him to mind his own business. This enraged Khan no end. He picked up a knife and slashed and stabbed her repeatedly in front of her minor daughter Farida. Zarina died of the injuries.
Challenging the conviction and life term before the apex court, Khan had pleaded that Farida was a minor and her testimony could not be relied upon. But a Bench comprising Justices H S Bedi and C K Prasad said the girl was 13 years old and understood what the accused was upto.
The next line of defence put up by Khan for a lenient sentence was that there was no previous enmity between him and the deceased and that it happened on the spur of the moment. Arguing for the state of Madhya Pradesh, counsel Vibha Datta Makhija said it was a clear case of enforcing burqa code and the accused did not deserve any leniency.