Justice is served: ATC sentences kidnappers to life imprisonment

The four convicts had kidnapped a three-year-old child

KARACHI: An anti-terrorism court sentenced a woman, her husband, brother and another person to life imprisonment on Thursday after convicting them of kidnapping a child in 2013.

The convicts — Asma Hayat, her husband Hayat Ali, her brother Nadir Ali and brother's friend Zeeshan — were arrested in July 2013 following an investigation of three-year-old child being kidnapped from district Central of the city.

The judgment came a day before the meeting of judicial officers at Supreme Court's Karachi Registry and weeks after the provincial ATCs were intimated to inform the apex court about pending cases.

Read: Justice served: Four years on, ATC sentences kidnappers to life imprisonment



According to the prosecution, Mohsin Pervez had registered an FIR with the police, after his grandson was abducted from Rizvia Society. He said that the child went missing on June 26, 2013 while playing on the street outside his house. The family searched for him but in vain.

Read: Taken: Boy rescued, kidnappers arrested

However, a few hours later, Pervez received a call from the kidnappers who demanded Rs5 million for his grandson's release. After much negotiations, spanning one month, the ransom amount was reduced to Rs3 million.

The police were in touch with the family throughout this time. With the help of the mobile phone location finder the police raided a house in Jahangirabad, close to the vicinity from where the child had gone missing.

The police arrested two suspects, Nadir and Zeeshan, and seized their sim cards and mobile phones which were being used to make ransom calls. On interrogation, the suspects revealed that the kidnapped child was kept in another house. Acting on the tip-off, the police recovered the abductee and arrested the couple, Asma and Hayat, on the charges of facilitating the kidnappers.

The case was earlier brought before the anti-terrorism court (ATC)-II but it was later transferred to the ATC-VIII. At least 10 witnesses including the complainant were examined by the court. Pervez told the court that Nadir was his neighbour and prior to the kidnapping, they shared a good relationship.

The judge, Imdad Hussain Khoso, after scrutinising the evidence, found all four suspects guilty of the offence and put them behind bars for 25 years. In his judgment, Khoso observed that the prosecution had successfully established the case and incorporated enough evidence against the suspects. The judge also ordered forfeiture of property of the convicts.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 31^st, 2015.