Child rapist awarded death

Seven-year-old girl was raped, killed by uncle in 2019

RAWALPINDI:

A court has awarded double death penalty to a man who raped and killed his seven-year-old niece in 2019.

Handing down the verdict on Saturday, Additional District and Sessions Judge Masood Akhtar Kiyani also imposed a fine of Rs600,000 on the convict, namely Waliullah Khan.

The judge observed that the crime committed by the man was heinous and therefore the convict deserved no mercy.

At a previous hearing, the perpetrator had asked for a pardon from his brother Noorullah Khan, the victim’s father. The suspect had apologised to his brother in the courtroom for the crime but the victim’s father had turned down his request.

Noorullah had said the apology would not bring his daughter back to life. He had further said that the suspect was indeed his brother but he should be severely punished for the heinous crime so the case could be used as deterrence against such criminals.

Earlier this week, the court had reserved its decision on the case. As the verdict was handed down on Saturday, the victim’s family expressed satisfaction.

Read Cops lodge FIR of woman’s gang rape at her house

Talking to media outside the court, Noorullah said though the convict was his brother, however, he deserved strict punishment. He thanked the court for providing him with justice.

The airport police had registered a case against Waliullah on November 22 in 2019 for subjecting his minor niece, Sidra, to rape and brutally killing her by suffocating her with a pillow.

The whole country had been shaken to its core following the girl's rape-murder case which had grabbed media attention for weeks.

The head of the Human Rights Committee, Masood Al-Hassan Shah, and other lawyers, including Najaf Al Hasnain and Samina Bukhari, fought the case for free. They told The Express Tribune that they strived to bring justice to the oppressed families by counselling all human rights cases for free.

Double murder case

Meanwhile, three suspects facing a double murder case were sentenced to death and another suspect was jailed for six years by a sessions court on Saturday.

The court, however, acquitted three other suspects and set them free due to a lack of evidence against them.

Additional Sessions Judge Farkhanda Arshad awarded death sentence to Akseer, Jameel, and Qadeer in the 2014 murder case. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 200,000 on each convict.

Another suspect, Muhammad Naseer, was awarded imprisonment extending to six years along with a fine of Rs 30,000.

The suspects were charged with killing two people and injuring four in an incident that had taken place in the precincts of Saddar police station in 2014.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2021.