Man gets life term in rape case

MANSEHRA: A local court on Friday handed down life imprisonment to a culprit in the sexual assault of a hearing and speech impaired minor girl in 2019.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Usman Bashir also awarded the convict an extra seven-year imprisonment and imposed Rs50,000 fine under section 53 of the Child Protection Act, 2018.

“The convict would spend an overall 32 years in the jail under both sentences proclaimed by the judge under section 376 of PPC and section 53 of the Child Protection Act and Rs0.5 million fine would be given away as compensation to the victim,” advocate Asim Mushhadi, who pleaded the case of victim in the court, told reporters.

The judge, Usman Bashir, after hearing counsels of both sides, pronounced the verdict in the presence of convict Mohammad Arif, who had sexually assaulted a 9-year-old-girl in absence of her parents at the Major Ayub Khan Road in the outskirts of the city.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Bushra Zaib also appeared in the court seeking justice for the victim girl and her family.

According to an FIR lodged with city police by the victim family on May 4, 2019, the convict, who is a mason by profession, was working at the residence of the victim girl. He, according to FIR, deceived the parents of the victim girl and sent them to bring some construction material and committed the offence forcibly and was arrested later on.