SHC sets aside death sentence in rape case

The Sindh High Court has set aside the death sentence of a man in a rape case after finding the prosecution case as doubtful.

Wali Mohammad was sentenced to death by an additional district and sessions court over rape of a minor girl in the Manghopir area on February 16, 2018. According to the prosecution, the appellant had raped the girl of his neighbour after the minor had gone to his house for doing some school work along with her sister.

A counsel for the appellant submitted that he was falsely implicated in the case by the complainant who wanted to usurp his property. He submitted that there was a delay of eight days in the registration of an FIR which allowed the complainant to cook up a story against the appellant.

He submitted that eyewitness’s statement was contradicted by other witnesses and evidence, due to which it could not be safely relied upon. He said that important witnesses who could have corroborated the victim’s statement were not called by the prosecution. The counsel submitted that the appellant’s DNA test was negative and he should be acquitted from charges.

An additional prosecutor general supported the trial court order and submitted that the victim had identified the appellant who had raped her and the DNA evidence was not essential to lead to a conviction in rape cases. He requested the high court to dismiss the appeal.

A division bench of the SHC headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha after hearing the arguments and perusal of the evidence of the case observed that the prosecution case and statement of victim was highly doubtful as it was hard to believe that the victim was raped at a place where two other girls, including the daughter of the appellant, were cleaning the floor.

The high court observed that the sister of the victim was at least a partial eyewitness of the incident who saw the appellant with the victim but she was not called to give evidence without any explanation and so some of the best potential evidence in the case was withheld and not produced by the prosecution.

The bench observed that there were 10 to 12 persons of the appellant’s and the victim’s families present in the small two-room house and it did not appeal to logic or common sense that the appellant would attempt to sexually assault a minor girl with so many people in such close proximity who could have caught him at any moment.

The SHC observed that the DNA test report did not link the appellant to sexual assault on the victim and there was no evidence with regard to the safe custody of prosecution evidence sent for chemical examination.

The high court observed that there were doubts as to the identity of a person who had raped or sexually assaulted the victim and where the actual rape took place and even the date of the sexual assault.

The SHC observed that the prosecution case was highly doubtful and extended the benefit of the doubt to the appellant and set aside the death sentence awarded to him by the trial court. The high court ordered his release if not required in other cases.