Cleric jailed for 16 years in rape case

Seminary teacher convicted for raping 10-year-old boy in Madrassa

MANSEHRA:

A local court sent a cleric to jail for 16 years after he was found guilty of raping a 10-year-old student at his seminary.

The student was sexually abused at a seminary in Thakra Mansehra on December 27, 2019.

A fine of Rs0.2 million has also been imposed on the convict.

Additional District and Session Judge Mansehra Ajmal Tahir awarded a total of 16.5 years imprisonment to Qari Shamsuddin, after proven guilty, 14 years and six months in jail for the torture of the victim boy and two more years of imprisonment in case of non-payment of Rs0.2 million fine.

Shamsuddin raped a 10-year-old student of his own Madrassa in 2019 and also tortured the victim boy for two days. The medical report proved the rape and the DNA of the convicted cleric also matched with the victim boy.

Mansehra police had registered a case against Qari Shamsuddin for raping the boy. The hearing of the case was in progress for three years and during this course of time, many influential people of Mansehra tried to pressurise the family of the victim to settle the case out of court. After the arrest of Qari Rashid in 2020, people of district Mansehra also protested against the heinous crime of the convicted and demanded to punish him.

Meanwhile, the Railway Department started paying pension and other dues after 20 years to a retired employee from Tehsil Balakot Mansehra.

This retired employee had filed a complaint against the non-receipt of pension in the Federal Ombudsman. He had requested the Federal Ombudsman to complete the pension case on time and make the payment as soon as possible. During the hearing with the concerned officers of the Railway Department, the Federal Ombudsman was told that the pension of the complainant was delayed due to the absence of required documents.

On this occasion, the Federal Ombudsman ordered immediate release of the pension after providing the necessary documents by the complainant. After receiving the pension, the complainant thanked the Federal Ombudsman and its officers in writing and said that his legitimate problem was resolved after 20 years with the intervention of the Federal Ombudsman.

The institution of a Federal Ombudsman has been formed to provide swift justice to the poor and needy citizens of the country.

The Head of the Regional Office of the Federal Ombudsman Secretariat in Abbottabad said that a complainant may file his complaint against any Federal Government Department in Hazara Division through any convenient means such as emails, social media, letters and can even personally visit to register their complaints.

He further said that a complainant is not necessarily required to hire the services of a legal counsel or representative to represent his case before the RO Abbottabad. The regional head said that a complainant may file his complaint on a simple paper by attaching a copy of CNIC and an affidavit stating that his complaint is not being heard by any other court of law.

He further said that on receipt of an application, the complainant and concerned department will be summoned to the RO and the issue will be resolved in accordance with Wafaqi Mohtasib (Disposal of Complaints) Regulation 2013.

Additional input from APP

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2022.