Man sentenced to death for raping teenage daughter

Judge observes father considered guardian of children; convict destroyed personality, soul and body of daughter

LAHORE:

A gender-based violence court judge convicted on Friday a man for raping his teenage daughter and sentenced him to death.

"A father is always considered a natural guardian and protector of his children, and if a daughter is teased by someone outside the house, she complains against him before her father while considering her father as her guardian but in the instant proposition, real father by committing incest has destroyed the personality, soul as well as body of his real minor daughter," noted Additional District and Sessions Judge Mian Shahid Javed in the detailed judgment.

"The minor has suffered psychological disaster," observed the judge, after the prosecution established its case through solid, concrete and confidence-inspiring evidence during the course of proceedings.

The offence committed by the convict is also shocking and outrageous for the public conscious and uprooting the fabric of society, observed the judge.

There is no mitigating circumstance rather the circumstances are aggravating, noted the judgment.

Accordingly, the accused was convicted under Section 376(3) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which pertains to rape, and was sentenced to death.

He is to be hanged by his neck till he is dead, ordered the judge.

Moreover, the convict was directed to pay a fine of Rs1 million as compensation under Section 544-A of Code of Criminal Proceedure (CrPC) to the survivor.

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The court instructed for this amount to be made recoverable as an arrear of land revenue. In case of default in payment of compensation, convict is to be imprisoned for six months.

Case history

The complainant, Suleman, was at his house on March 31, 2019, when he heard cries and noise coming from the house of his paternal aunt, Kausar, at around 8:30 am.

Suleman rushed to his aunt's house, which was adjacent to his own while M Ismail and Siddique also reached there.

His aunt informed him that her husband, the convict, had their 14-year-old daughter in the room and it was she who was crying.

Hearing this, Suleman, M Ismail and Siddique called for the convict to open the door, which he didn't. When they managed to break in they found the convict raping his daughter.

During the proceedings, the defence counsel had argued that a false case was registered against the accused - now convict - over domestic reasons, and that the prosecution had failed to prove its case.

The defence counsel had further argued that no evidence of bleeding or stains were found by the woman medical officer at the time of examination and had moved the court for acquittal.

The convict had maintained that the prosecution and witnesses were trying to grab his house through blackmail.

However, it was proven during the course of proceedings that the wife and the teenage survivor were already residing in the same house and hence, there was no need for them to be grabbing the house.