Man gets life term in Naila Rind suicide case

HYDERABAD: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) Monday sentenced a man to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of blackmail and harassment that eventually caused Sindh University student Naila Rind to commit suicide.

The court ordered the convict, Anis Ahmed Khaskheli, to pay a fine of Rs200,000 under provisions of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. If case of non-payment, the convict will have to spend one more year in jail.

On January 1, 2017, the body of Naila Rind was found hanging from a ceiling fan in Marvi Hostel Block A’s Room No. 36 at the university. Khaskheli, who lived in a society close to the hostel, blackmailed the victim by sending pictures and videos causing immense agony to Rind. The girl ended her life by hanging from a ceiling fan. She was a resident of Shahdadkot.

During the probe, investigation officer Tahir Mughal learnt that the accused had blackmailed the student in various ways for not having illicit relations with him. Judge Nadeem Ahmed Akhund of ATC No. 1 also handed him down three more years of imprisonment and a fine of 25,000 under the Prevention of Electronic Crime Act, 2016. In case of non-payment of the fine, the convict will be imprisoned for another six months. Khaskheli was free on bail and was taken into custody after the announcement of the verdict.

The judicial commission (formed by a division bench of the Sindh High Court’s Hyderabad Circuit, comprising Justice Salahudin Panhwar and Justice Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui in 2017) also examined every aspect of the case and declared the incident a suicide as a result of blackmail. The ATC reached the same conclusion.