Three brothers get life term

ATC acquits two accused of allegedly raping minor girls

KARACHI: A special anti-terrorism court (ATC) sentenced three brothers to life imprisonment, finding them guilty in a triple murder case.

The ATC-16 announced the verdict at Karachi Central Jail, sentencing Arif Abbasi, Faizan Abbasi and Adil Abbasi to life imprisonment, and declaring the fourth brother Faisal Abbasi alias Mota absconder.

According to police, the accused were involved in firing at a hotel in Paposh Nagar, during which two brothers, Sudhir Ahmed and Wazir Ahmed, and their brother-in-law, Muhammad, were killed. The deceased and accused had a dispute over parking a rickshaw. A case was registered against them at the Paposh police station on June 1, 2015.

17-year imprisonment

In another case, a special anti-terrorism court awarded 17-years imprisonment to a man found guilty of possessing illegal weapons on Wednesday. The verdict was announced by the ATC-10 at the Karachi Central Jail, sentencing Arshad to 17-year imprisonment for police encounter along with the possession of illegal weapons.

According to police, the accused was arrested after a police encounter in North Nazimabad, while his accomplice, Syed Owais Hussain Jaffery, was killed in the encounter. Cases against the accused were registered at North Nazimabad police station in 2018.

Jaish-e-Muhammad men sentenced

The same court awarded a total of 20 years of imprisonment to two members of the banned outfit, Jaish-e-Muhammmad and imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on each of them.

The court announced the verdict at Karachi Central Jail, after finding the accused Muhiddin and Muhammad Younis guilty of financially facilitating Jaish-e-Muhammad. Each of them was awarded 10 years imprisonment.

According to police, the criminals were students of Al Hurmat Trust and were secretly providing assistance to Jaish-e-Muhammad. They were caught red handed while collecting funds for the banned organisation and two megaphones, two flags of Jaishe-Muhammad as well as receipts of the funds they had collected were seized from their possession.

A case was registered against them at Mangophir police station in 2019.



Acquitted

Meanwhile, two persons accused of allegedly raping minor girls were acquitted by a special anti-terrorism court, on the basis of the results of the DNA report.

The DNA report concluded that the samples of the accused, Fataullah and Fatah Muhammad, did not match with that of the rape victims, and hence, the court declared them innocent.

The court was hearing the case at Karachi Central Jail.

During the hearing, the government's lawyer argued that the police had submitted a report stating that no evidence was found against the accused. He added that, however, the DNA sample of the accused Amjad alias Zakir matched with that of the victims.

The court adjourned the hearing of the case till June 18.

A case was registered against the accused at Shah Latif police station, Sukhan police station, Quaidabad police station and other police stations.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2019.