Administration of justice: Two sentenced to death for rape, murder of girl

The victim was gang-raped before being murdered in 2011, two suspects were acquitted.

MULTAN:

A sessions court in Vehari on Friday sentenced to death two men convicted for rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl in 2011. The court acquitted two suspects due to lack of conclusive evidence.

Amina, the victim, had gone missing from her home in Luddan village on December 26, 2011. Her dismembered body was found three days later from a field. Her father, Manzoor Ahmed, accused four men, Zareef, Faisal, Shehzad Anwar and Abbas for the murder.

An autopsy confirmed that the victim was gang-raped and murdered. Luddan police started the investigation and arrested all four suspects within 72 hours.

During interrogation, Zareef and Faisal, confessed that they had kidnapped the girl and raped her for three days as “part of their new-year celebrations”. The accused said they murdered Amina, later dismembered her body. They claimed that they had believed that the girl was a prostitute.

Additional District and Sessions Judge Malik Liaqat Ali had started hearing the case in January 2012 after police submitted the challan.

After two and a half year of proceedings, the court on Friday found Zareef and Faisal guilty of the rape and murder and sentenced them to death. They were also fined Rs300,000 each. The amount would be paid to the legal heirs of the victim as compensation.

Shehzad Anwar and Abbas were acquitted of the charges because of lack of evidence.

Talking to journalists after the hearing, Ahmed, the victim’s father, expressed relief at the verdict.

“I am satisfied with the decision but court proceedings in our country take long time,” he said.

Ahmed said the prosecution in cases of violence against women should be expeditious.

He said it had taken two and half years to convict the murderers even though they were arrested within three days of his daughter’s murder and two of them had confessed to the crime.

He said in the last two years he had found that women had no respect in society. “The proceedings seem to be intent on humiliating women and lawyers are to blame for this. They use every tactic to protect the criminals,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 28^th, 2014.