KARACHI: A sessions court sentenced on Friday a man to collective 28 years in prison for kidnapping and raping a minor girl.

The court found Furqan Ali guilty of sexually assaulting a seven-year-old girl after abducting her in Korangi Industrial Area in May, 2009.

The additional district and sessions judge (east), Mushtari Khanum, pronounced the judgement after recording evidence of witnesses and final arguments from both sides.

The court also directed the convict to pay Rs50,000 to complainant in compensation and in case of default he would undergo an additional two-month imprisonment. The court awarded 14 years each to the convict for the offences of rape and kidnapping. However, both sentences would run concurrently.

The court observed that all witnesses, including the victim and the witnesses, who had last seen them, had deposed against the accused and their evidence remained consistent on material points, adding that the documentary evidence also corroborated their testimonies.

According to the prosecution, the accused was a baker in the area and on May 9, he abducted the minor girl when she came to purchase flatbread. He took the girl to the Manghopir area and subjected her to rape while the area people had seen the accused with the girl just before her kidnapping.

The police arrested the accused and recovered the victim around 10 days after the incident, it added.

A case was registered under Sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 364-A (kidnapping a person under the age of 10) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of the victim’s father at the KIA police station.

Three extortionists jailed

An antiterrorism court sentenced on Friday three extortionists to five years in prison. Mohammed Yasin, Khalid Baloch and Mohammed Noman, said to be associated with one of the several criminal gangs operating in Lyari, were found guilty of demanding and collecting protection money from a trader by putting him in fear of death in Gulshan-i-Iqbal in March last year.

The judge of the ATC-I, Bashir Ahmed Khoso, also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 each. The court also awarded another seven years term to Yasin and Khalid in connected cases.

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2015

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