The War Against Rape (WAR) has hailed another legal victory in the rape case of a six-year-old girl after the conviction of the accused on Friday.

First Additional District & Sessions Judge (ADJ) East Tariq Khoso pronounced the accused guilty on two counts and sentenced him to a total of 15 years imprisonment and awarded a Rs50,000 fine for the sexual assault that occurred in 2010.

“WAR commends the efforts of their advocate Asia Muneer who, along with Deputy District Public Prosecutor Amir Ibrahim Dasti, worked tirelessly to ensure that this heinous crime doesn’t go unpunished,” it said in a statement.

On July 22, 2010, the girl was playing outside her house, when a neighbourhood boy named Shahbaz gave her Rs10 and asked her to buy a snack for herself from the nearby shop. When the girl proceeded towards the shop, Shahbaz instead took her hand and took her to a bathroom in his house. Shahzbaz, 22, raped and sodomised the girl in the bathroom and poured water on her to wash away the blood. Shahbaz’s family was in the house at the time, and saw him taking her out of the bathroom.

By the time the victim reached home, her clothes were covered in blood again. Upon questioning, she told her family that Shahbaz had taken her to his bathroom and assaulted her.

The family immediately took the girl to the Saudabad police station, where an FIR was registered under sections 376 (Rape) and 377 (Unnatural Offences). The police accompanied the family back to the neighbourhood and upon the girl’s identification Shahbaz was arrested the same day. On Friday, First ADJ (East) Tariq Khoso pronounced the accused guilty on two counts and sentenced him to a total of 15 years imprisonment.

“WAR takes this opportunity to once again draw attention to the alarming rise in the number of child rape cases in Karachi and calls upon the government to take action on the issue.”