Man gets 10-year imprisonment for raping stepdaughter

A Karachi court on Wednesday awarded ten-year imprisonment to a man for raping his stepdaughter in Shah Faisal Colony.

Additional Sessions Judge Ilyas A Memon of the Gender-Based Violence Court (East) also imposed a Rs100,000 fine on the convict, Aamir Ali Shehzad, and in case of default, the convict would have to undergo additional imprisonment of six months.

Shehzad was booked and arrested by Shah Faisal Colony police in January last year. An FIR was registered under sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 338-C (punishment for Isqat-i-janin or causing a pregnant woman to miscarry) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on the complaint of the victim’s mother.

The judge announced his verdict after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides. He ruled that the prosecution successfully proved the charge of rape against the accused with the help of ocular as well as medical evidence.

The judge noted that the investigating officer, sub-inspector Sardar Muhammad, failed to conduct a proper investigation into the allegation of abortion. The prosecution side firmly stated that the victim had got pregnant and subsequently underwent an abortion at a local clinic, but the IO made no efforts to collect and produce evidence to support this claim, he said and directed his office to issue a show-cause notice to him to explain his position in this regard.

During the trial, the victim deposed that her mother had solemnised second marriage with Shehzad, who treated them well in the first three to four years of the marriage. Later, she added, her stepfather subjected her to sexual abuse.

The girl testified that she disclosed the ordeal she went through to her mother who then inquired her husband about it. The accused started maltreating them and extended death threats if they disclosed the incident to anyone or report it to the police, she said. She stated that when she became pregnant, Shahzad and her mother took her to a local clinic where she underwent an abortion, after which he again started subjecting her to sexual abuse until her mother shifted her to her maternal uncle’s home.

In his judgement, the judge observed that it was settled principle of law that the DNA report is a corroborate piece of evidence and not direct evidence. “In this case, there is no DNA report available on record, even if the DNA report would have come on record, it would not be helpful for either party due to lapse of time,” he said, adding that the victim and her mother admitted that they didn’t file any complaint with police for one-and-a-half year of the incident.

“The alleged offence is heinous offence which can destroy the entire psychology of a victim by putting her and her relatives to public shame. Such kind of gruesome offence is not against the individual only but it is also against the good conscience of the society,” the judge wrote.

Advocate Basam Ali Dahri and Bahzad Akbar Gabol, who represented the complainant of the case, argued that the prosecution placed on record sufficient evidence to prove its case against the accused. The court was pleaded to punish him according to the law.

On the other hand, the defence lawyer contended that the prosecution failed to place on record direct evidence to connect the accused with the commission of the alleged offence. He said there were also multiple contradictions in statements of prosecution witnesses, pleading with the judge to acquit the accused of the charge.

The court granted the convict the benefit of Section 382-B (considering the period he remained in jail during trial) of the Criminal Procedure Code. He was sent back to the prison to serve out the remaining sentence.