School van driver jailed for 14 years for abusing child

KARACHI:

An Additional District and Sessions Judge (Central), Mirza Tauseef Ahmed, has sentenced school van driver Owais Khan to 14 years imprisonment for sexually harassing a seven-year-old girl during pick-and-drop duty.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs one million on the convict, ruling that failure to pay would result in an additional three years of imprisonment.

According to Prosecutor Hina Naz, the accused used to transport the girl from her school in North Nazimabad to her home and harassed her during the journey. The child later informed her parents, who raised an alarm at the school, leading to the driver's arrest.

Remand of wife's killer extended

A Judicial Magistrate (East) on Wednesday extended the physical remand of accused Qamar Abidi for seven days in a case relating to the murder of his wife, whom he allegedly killed by slitting her throat.

Police produced the accused before the court at the expiry of his earlier remand and requested an extension. The investigating officer informed the court that the suspect had confessed to the crime and that his statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code still needed to be recorded.

Adv Shamsul Islam's murder case

The administrative judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) remanded a suspect, arrested from KP, to jail custody in connection with the murder of prominent lawyer Khawaja Shamsul Islam. Ahsan Khan had provided his vehicle to the main accused to help him escape after the murder.

The prosecution sought his physical remand for further interrogation. However, defence counsels Advocate Abid Zaman and Usama Ali opposed the request, arguing that Ahsan had already been in police custody since August 13 and was brought to Karachi belatedly despite a transit remand from KP. The court dismissed the police request for physical custody and sent the accused to judicial remand, permitting the IO to question him inside prison for three days, for up to three hours daily before sunset.