An anti-terrorism court (ATC) judge handed down life imprisonment to a faith healer on charges of burning a mentally-challenged girl under the garb of her treatment.
According to the prosecution, Sonia Sultana of Rasoolpura was mentally-handicapped and her brother Waseem Shehbaz reportedly called Shamim Akhtar, a fake sage, for her treatment. Shamim claimed that the girl was captured by some devils and she could help her exorcise those supernatural powers.
In this regard, she reportedly set the girl on fire on December 6th 2023, severely affected her eyes, nose and chest. After receiving information about the incident, Ghulam Muhammad Abad police arrested Shamim Akhtar, Shehbaz and his wife Aalia and submitted a challan of the case with the court.
After observing evidence and hearing statements from witnesses, ATC Special Judge Muhammad Hussain awarded life imprisonment to the fake sage under Section 336 (b) of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and ordered her to pay a fine of Rs1 million.
The court also awarded 36 years imprisonment under various sections of PPC and directed her to pay Rs20.464 million as compensation money and fine.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 26th, 2024.
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