Asma murder case: Accused awarded life imprisonment

PESHAWAR: A child protection court on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to the accused in the high profile murder case of a four-year-old girl, Asma, who was killed in Mardan in 2018.

Child Protection Court Judge Ijaz Ahmad awarded, 25 years,14 years and three years sentence to the accused Mohammad Nabi under different sections of law and imposed a fine of Rs100,000 to be given to the family of the deceased as compensation.

The maximum penalty of death sentence was not awarded as the accused, 16, was a juvenile. The accused was already convicted by the Anti-Terrorism Court.

Later the Peshawar High Court referred the case to the Child Protection Court for re-trial.

Judge Ijaz Ahmad heard a number of witnesses in the case during the last few months after which the verdict was issued on Tuesday. The court awarded maximum imprisonment to the accused who is a juvenile.

“Prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The charge has fully been proved. However, while convicting the accused under Section 302(b) his age should be taken under consideration. As the accused is a juvenile the capital punishment of death could not be awarded under the Juvenile justice System Act 2018,” stated the verdict.

Mohammad Nabi was arrested during investigation of a high profile case of the murder of four-year-old Asma who was killed in the Jandarpar Gujjar Garhi area of Mardan in January 2018.

According to the post-mortem report, wounds were found on different parts of Asma’s body. She had gone missing while playing outside her house.

The case became a high profile matter after media and social media kept reporting about it for many days. A number of political leaders also took up the issue and demanded justice for the family.