SHC dismisses state’s plea for harsh punishment

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed an application by the prosecution seeking enhancement of the sentence of a man who was convicted in a rape attempt case.

An additional district and sessions court had sentenced Nikson Malik for two-year imprisonment for attempting to rape a nine-year-old girl who went to him for tuition.

An additional prosecutor general submitted that the alleged offence was committed on May 8, 2001 and the punishment provided for the offence under the Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) was death, imprisonment of either description for a term which shall not be less than 10 years or more than 25 years.

He submitted that the sentence awarded to the respondent was not as per the law and requested the high court to enhance the sentence of the respondent.

A counsel for the respondent submitted that the trial court had rightly taken leniency while awarding the sentence to the respondent keeping in view the circumstances of the case.

A division bench of the high court headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput after hearing the arguments of the counsel observed that it appeared from perusal of the record that after a full-fledged trial, the respondent had been found guilty of the charge under the Section 376 read with the Section 511 of the PPC for attempting rape on the minor victim.

The high court observed that the term of imprisonment provided under the Section 376 was not less than 10 years or more than 25 years in case rape was committed.

The SHC observed that since no punishment had been provided for the attempt of rape under the section 376, the prosecution had added the Section 511 of the PPC, which was a general section dealing with attempts to commit offences that were not made punishable by specific section of the PPC.

The high court observed that it provided punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or for a shorter term where no express provision was made by the code for the punishment for such an attempt.

The SHC observe that the age of the respondent at the time of committing the alleged offence was recorded by prosecution witness Dr Muhammad Areeb as 17 years; hence, he had been given by the trial court an opportunity for reformation.