Heinous crime: Acid attackers awarded life sentences

FAISALABAD: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday awarded life sentences to two men convicted of attacking a woman with acid. Prosecution said Ismatullah and his accomplices Tauseef Ahmad and Waseem had broken into a house in Mauza Qaim Bharwana on September 19 and had attacked girl with acid. On hearing her screams, the girl’s mother Mumtaz Bibi and her brother Fakhar Abbas entered the room and tried to stop the men from escaping. Prosecution said the men threw acid on them as well and fled. Waryamawala police had registered a case against the accused and had arrested them in a raid soon after. After hearing arguments and examining the evidence, ATC Judge Raja Parvaiz Akhtar awarded life sentences to the men and fined them Rs1 million. The convicts would have to undergo additional sentence for eight years each if they failed to pay the fine. Waseem was acquitted on benefit of doubt.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 16^th, 2015.