Two juveniles sentenced to multiple life terms

Two juvenile criminals, who were proven by the prosecution to be accomplices of Lyari gangsters, were on Thursday sentenced to multiple life terms by an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the December 2013 murder case of four family members residing in Mauripur area.

Abdul Basit and Adil Baloch, who were both 14 years when the crime was committed, have been sent to jail for 131 and 110 years, respectively. The court also imposed fines –Rs700,000 for Basit and Rs400,000 on Baloch.  The prosecution, as per the ruling, had been able to prove that Basit and Baloch were involved in several murder conspiracies. Since the two were under 18 when the crimes were committed, the court observed they were not eligible for the death penalty.

A day earlier, the ATC concerned handed down death penalty to Lyari gangster Yaseen Baloch for murdering the four family members — 45-year-old Muzaffar Baig, his 40-year-old wife Shazia and their sons Imran, 28, and Sumair, 22.

Their 18-year-old married daughter was injured in this incident. The court also awarded 17-year imprisonment to Yaseen Baloch for injuring their daughter and possessing illegal weapons.

According to the prosecution, Yaseen Baloch — along with Abdul Basit, Adil Baloch and Abdul Wajid — had broken into Muzaffar’s house and took the family hostage at gunpoint.

Police said the accused had raped female members of the family before killing four of them and injuring Muzaffar’s daughter.

The accused, who were arrested by the police after a shoot-out, targeted the family because of Baig’s political affiliation and ethnic background. Of the four accused, Wajid Baloch was acquitted for want of evidence.