Two men jailed for remainder of their lives for gang rape

A sessions court on Monday sentenced two men to rigorous imprisonment for the remainder of their lives on the charges of gang raping a teenage girl.

Additional Sessions Judge (West) Irshad Hussain found Muhammad Shakir and Hafeez guilty of subjecting a 17-year-old girl to sexual abuse within the jurisdiction of the Mochko police station in September 2022.

After recording the evidence and the final arguments, the judge ruled that the prosecution had succeeded in establishing its case against both the accused men.

“I, therefore, convict and sentence the accused under Section 265-H(ii) [of the] CrPC [Criminal Procedure Code] for the offence punishable under Section 375-A [of the] PPC [Pakistan Penal Code] to RI [rigorous imprisonment] for the remainder period of natural life,” ruled the judge.

Shakir was produced in court from prison while Hafeez appeared on bail. The judge sent both convicts to prison to serve out the sentence strictly in accordance with the law.

According to the prosecution, Shakir and Hafeez had gang raped the teenager at the former’s house on September 11, 2022. An FIR had been lodged under sections 376 (punishment for rape) and 34 (common intention) of the PPC at the Mochko police station on the complaint of the victim’s mother.

12 years for murder

A model court sentenced a man to 12 years of rigorous imprisonment in a murder case. Muhammad Bux, alias Babu, was found guilty of killing Gulzar within the Awami Colony police precincts in August 2020.

Additional District & Sessions Judge Abdul Zahoor Chandio of the Model Criminal Trial Court (East) announced his order after recording the evidence and the final arguments of both the prosecution and the defence.

The judge ruled that the prosecution had successfully proved its case against the accused, and awarded him 12 years of rigorous imprisonment. The convict was ordered to pay Rs500,000 as compensation to the legal heirs of the deceased, defaulting on which he would have to undergo additional six months in prison.

“The reason for not awarding [the] death penalty to the accused is that the prosecution has not proved the motive of the incident as well as [the] recovery of [the] crime weapon, which creates strong mitigating circumstances to award lesser punishment to the accused,” noted the judge.

He said that the absence of the crime weapon does not affect the prosecution’s case at all, and that its recovery is “merely a corroborating piece of evidence, while ocular evidence is [a] substantive piece of evidence proving [the] guilt of the accused”.

He also said the convict was entitled to the benefit of Section 382-B of the CrPC, meaning that the time in detention since his arrest is to be deducted from his prison term. State prosecutor Muhammad Ashraf Bhatti contended that the victim was standing outside his home in Sector 10 of Bagh-e-Korangi on August 21, 2020, when three men on a motorbike showed up, then one of them, identified as Babu, got off the bike and shot the victim dead.

He argued that there was substantive evidence, including ocular, to corroborate the charges against the accused, requesting the judge to punish him in accordance with the law. An FIR had been lodged under sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the PPC at the Awami Colony police station on the complaint of the father of the deceased.