Mugger sentenced to collective 14-year imprisonment in robbery, illegal weapon cases

A sessions court has handed down a collective sentence of 14 years to a mugger in cases pertaining to robbery and possession of illicit arms.

East Additional Sessions Judge Shahid Ali Memon observed that the prosecution had successfully proved its cases against the accused, Ali Sher, beyond any shadow of doubt.

He sentenced the convict to seven-year imprisonment for an offence punishable under the Section 397 (robbery or dacoity, with attempt to cause death or grievous hurt) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Additionally, the judge awarded seven-year imprisonment to the convict for possessing an unlicensed weapon punishable under the Section 23(i)(a) of the Sindh Arms Act 2013.

The convict was also ordered to pay a Rs20,000 fine or undergo an additional two-month imprisonment on default.

"I must express my thoughts that nowadays, the street crimes have promptly been increasing day by day and none from the society feel secure at the hands of merciless muggers, who almost not only looted the innocent but also caused their murder and injuries without their fault," the judge observed.

"Thus under such circumstances, the persons so involved in such like cases do not deserve any leniency and if any leniency is shown then it would amount to bring the lives, liberties, honors, valuable properties of the innocent at the mercy of unbridled looters."

The court, however, acquitted co-accused Imam Bux of robbery charge by giving him the benefit of the doubt.

According to the prosecution, complainant Muhammad Laraib Khan had stated that on September 24, 2024, he was returning home from work along with his friends Badar Arif and Abdul Rehman when three men stopped them near the Malir River. They robbed him and his friends of their mobile phones, cash and other valuables at gunpoint before fleeing, he said.

On October 8, a police party arrested Sher and seized an unlicensed revolver from his possession, the prosecution said, adding that the other accused, Bux, were arrested on November 25. An FIR was lodged at the Korangi Industrial Area (KIA) police station.