Islamabad: The Supreme Court said a woman’s refusal to marry cannot justify violence or reduce the seriousness of her murder, while dismissing a convict’s petition to commute his death sentence to life imprisonment.

The decision, reported on Tuesday, concerned Muhammad Kamran, convicted of murdering Maimoona Shaheen after she and her family rejected his marriage proposal. According to the prosecution account cited in the judgment, Kamran killed her at her home.

Justice Muhammad Hashim Khan Kakar authored the nine-page judgment. Justices Salahuddin Panhwar and Ishtiaq Ibrahim also sat on the bench, Dawn reported.

The court said marriage requires the free consent of both parties. It rejected the argument that a woman’s refusal could amount to provocation or provide grounds for a lighter punishment.

Accepting that reasoning would subordinate a woman’s wishes to a man’s preferences, the bench said. Wounded pride, anger and claims of honour could not excuse such violence.

The judgment criticised patriarchal attitudes that treat women as possessions and regard rejection as an insult. It linked those attitudes to stalking, acid attacks and the killing of women, The Express Tribune reported.

Kamran had sought a reduced sentence on the basis of his prolonged imprisonment. The court said time spent in custody alone did not establish grounds for commuting his sentence, APP reported.

The bench also said Islam requires a woman’s free consent to marriage and referred to Pakistan’s commitments under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women.

Its observations addressed the right to choose whether and whom to marry while deciding a review petition in an existing murder case.