K-P court sentences man life imprisonment for raping minor niece

Court also sentences mother, brother of the victim to 20 years in prison for forcing her into prostitution

PESHAWAR: A juvenile court on Saturday sentenced a man to serve life in prison apart from fining him Rs0.1 million for sexually abusing his minor niece and forcing her into prostitution.

The court also sentenced the victim’s mother and brother to serve 20 years in prison each for being an accessory to the crime. They were also fined Rs2 million.

The prosecutor in the case said that Muzamil along with Fazal Diyan and his mother had allegedly forced the victim into prostitution.

Moreover, the Muzamil — the victim’s uncle — and Diyan had allegedly raped the victim which prompted her mother filed an FIR against them at the Paharipura police station.

The prosecutor added that during investigations, the victim told police that her mother was among those who had forced her into prostitution while her uncle and brother had raped her in 2018 in the Samar Bagh area.

Police subsequently arrested the three suspects under Sections 371 (prostitution) and 376 (rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). They were convicted by the Juvenile Court Judge Vadiya Mushtaq Malik.

The judgment read that if the convicts failed to pay the fines, they will have to spend another 18 months in prison.

According to the government documents, as many as 29 cases have been filed in the province under the child protection act, while another six under the Juvenile system ordinance were registered.

The report also showed an increase in cases of sexual assault against minors.

On Friday, Haripur police arrested two suspects over charges of sexually abusing a nine-year-old minor while a third suspect escaped and is still at large.

The Haripur police told the media on Friday that three men had allegedly forced a nine-year-old- boy, a resident of Noor Colony, into a vacant house where they gang-raped him.

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government is expected to a table a law against child sexual abuse in the provincial assembly this month after a 13-member parliamentary committee formed by the government recommended severe punishment including public hanging and lifetime jail time to convicts in child sexual abuse cases.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 1^st, 2020.