Compromise with complainant fails to get rapist reprieve

Security guard gets 14-year jail-term, Rs1m fine for sexual abuse of minor girl

ISLAMABAD:

A security guard who had been booked in a case involving sexual abuse of a minor girl has been awarded a jail term of 14 years and a fine of Rs1 million despite reconciliation with the aggrieved party. Additional District and Sessions Judge Humayun Dilawar announced the verdict.

During the hearing held on Tuesday, Public Prosecutor Rana Hassan Abbas appeared in the case on behalf of the state. According to the verdict, a case was registered against security guard Sohail Akhtar in Tarnol police station on January 11. The accused called the girl from the house asking her for water. When the girl arrived, the guard sexually assaulted her in his cabin.

Hearing the screams of the minor, the family rushed for rescue while the accused fled from the scene. After the arrest in the case registered in January this year, charges against the suspect were framed in May. The court completed the trial in five months and pronounced the sentence on his conviction.

The court, in its written verdict, maintained that before recording the statement of the eight-year-old girl, it asked it asked the victim some questions related to her school, age, residence and attendance at the court. The court also inquired the girl about what evidence she wanted to give, to which she gave satisfactory replies.

The girl, in her statement, told the court that the accused asked her to bring water. She brought water for the guard who then asked her to fetch a cup from the room. When she entered the room, the convict grabbed her and removed her trouser and sexually abused her. The complainant told the court that he had reconciled with the accused and had no objection if the court acquitted him. The girl's mother also said in her statement that she had forgiven the accused for the sake of Allah (SWT).

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 5^th, 2022.