KARACHI: A sessions court on Monday acquitted two more accused of the rape charge in the Nasima Lubano case.

Munawar Hussain and Moro Zada along with their accomplices had been charged with subjecting the 18-year-old girl to sexual assault in January 2007 in Ghotki district.

The district and sessions judge (south), Ahmed Saba, exonerated the accused after recording evidence of witnesses and final arguments from both sides. The judge ruled that the prosecution remained unable to prove its case beyond a shadow of a doubt.

In January 2010, the same court had sentenced Anwar Hussain to life imprisonment and acquitted six other accused, Shahzado, Abdul Jabbar, Khadim Hussain, Ali Hasan, Shah Baig and Bashir Ahmed, in this case while the accused in question were absconders at the time of the judgement, which stated that neither the offence of house trespass nor the outrage of the victim’s modesty had taken place and therefore the benefit of the doubt was given to the six accused.

But the case of Anwar Hussain was different because the offence of rape by Anwar and the absconding accused, Abdul Sattar, who is still at large, has been proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, according to the verdict.

According to the prosecution, the accused armed with weapons broke into the house of the victim on Jan 27, 2007 and took her to the residence of accused Abdul Sattar, where she was subjected to gang rape and then humiliated in public.

A case was registered against the accused at the Ubaro police station.

Initially, the case was tried in a court in Mirpur Mathelo. However, the Sindh High Court transferred the case to the district and sessions court (south) in Karachi on a request of the victim’s father.

Order reserved

An anti-corruption court on Monday again reserved its order on acquittal applications in a two-and-a-half-decades old poll rigging case.

Hayat Awan and Malik Jan along with their accomplices, including a paralysed person, have been charged with taking away 150,000 identity cards from the Pakistan Security Printing Press before the 1988 elections for rigging. Two of the suspects have passed away during the trial.

After rehearing arguments from both sides, the judge of the special federal anti-corruption court, Mohammad Azeem, reserved the order for pronouncement till May 7.

Earlier on Feb 20, the then judge of the court, Ahmed Luqman Memon, reserved the order on acquittal pleas for pronouncement till March 10, but he was transferred to a court in Hyderabad.

Transit remand

An accountability court handed over on Monday two suspects to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) on three-day transit remand in the rental power project scam.

The NAB arrested two former chief executive officers of the Lakhra Power Generation Company Limited, Anwar Brohi and Muhammad Jamil, on May 4.

The administrative judge of accountability courts Karachi, Saad Qureshi, asked the NAB to produce the suspects before trial court in Islamabad till May 8.