Notices issued on plea against acquittals in Kainat Soomro case

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday issued notices to the prosecutor general and the acquitted respondents on an appeal against the acquittal of four men in the Kainat Soomro kidnapping and rape case.

A district & sessions court had acquitted Ahsan Ali, Roshan Ali, Shaban Ali Sheikh and Kaleemullah of gang rape charges in 2010. They had been prosecuted for subjecting 13-year-old Kainat to gang rape in Dadu’s Mehar area in January 2007. According to the prosecution, Kainat was buying some articles at Sheikh’s shop in her native village of Mehar when the respondents kidnapped her by spraying some toxic substance, then gang raped her.

The appellant’s counsel said the trial court had misread the evidence and had not supported the prosecution’s case, thus the trial court’s order was liable to be set aside and the respondents should be convicted.

The trial court had said that the prosecution had failed to prove the kidnapping and rape charges against the respondents, adding that respondent Ahsan Ali had solemnised marriage with Kainat before a judicial magistrate.An SHC division bench, which was headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto, issued notices to the prosecutor general and the acquitted respondents for March 15.