KARACHI, Jan 13: A sessions court on Thursday sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for raping a minor girl.The court found Mohammad Shaukat guilty of subjecting a five-year-old girl to the sexual assault within the remit of the Sohrab Goth police station in April 2007. The additional district and sessions judge (Malir), Mohammad Shahid Shafiq, who conducted the trial, pronounced the judgment after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

The court in its verdict ruled that the victim and other prosecution witnesses fully implicated the accused in the commissioning of the crime and the medical evidence corroborated their testimonies, adding that the prosecution successfully proved its case against the accused beyond reasonable doubt.

The court extended the benefit of Section 382-B (period of detention to be considered while awarding sentence of imprisonment) of the criminal procedure code to the convict.

A case (FIR No.84/07) was registered against the accused under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code on a complaint of the victim's father.

The man was produced before the court in custody and was sent back to prison along with a conviction warrant to serve out the remainder of his sentence.