KARACHI, Jan 15: A sessionfs court on Tuesday sentenced a man to seven years in prison in a rape case.

Mohammad Adil was found guilty of subjecting a woman to a sexual assault in Jan 2012 within the remit of the New Karachi Industrial Area police station.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (central) Aliya Latif Unar pronounced her verdict after recording evidence and final arguments from both sides.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 and in case of default the convict would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

The court in its verdict ruled that the victim had specifically deposed against the accused in the commissioning of the offence, and other prosecution witnesses had supported her version.

It said that the medical evidence also corroborated their evidence.

A case (FIR 13/12) was registered under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code on a complaint of the victim’s father.

The court also 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.

He was in custody and the court remanded him back to prison along with a conviction warrant to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

Defence witness testifies An anti-terrorism court recorded on Tuesday the evidence of a defence witness in a case pertaining to the killing of four traders in a staged encounter.

The then SHO of the Anti-Car Lifting Cell, Malik Irshad, constables Zafar Iqbal, Zahoor Khan, Zaheer Mirza and Noor Shah have been charged with killing the four traders on Dec 31, 2008 within the remit of the Ferozabad police station.

DSP Irfan Zaman appeared in court and testified that he was performing his duties as ACLC DSP (admin) in Dec 2008 and on the night of the incident he was at home when he received a call from the ACLC SSP that a car (ALJ696) had been snatched and he was directed to recover it.

The defence witness deposed that he directed accused Irshad to constitute a team and proceed for the recovery of the car.

He said that it was brought to his knowledge that the ACLC team came under fire near Ferozabad when policemen signalled another car (RUP/009) to stop.

He said that the police returned fire in self-defence that killed four occupants of the car.Public prosecutor Abdul Maroof cross-examined the witness, who conceded that he came to know about the incident the next day at his office. “It is correct to suggest that I myself had not visited the place of crime,” he added.He was the second witness the defence examined so far.

The hearing was adjourned till Jan 23 for further evidence of more defence witnesses.

Recovery of kidnapped girl ordered A policeman told a judicial magistrate on Tuesday that the police could not recover a teenage girl, as she was kept at the house of a provincial minister by one of his servants.

When the matter came up for hearing before Judicial Magistrate (south) Hatim Aziz Solangi on Tuesday, Assistant Sub-Inspector Ghaffar Khan of the Boat Basin police station appeared in court and submitted that it was not possible for him to recover the captive and arrest the suspect since she was confined at the house of a Sindh minister and the suspect was his servant.

The police officer’s statement irked the court, which ruled that nobody is above the law.

The court directed the ASI to recover the victim, arrest the suspect and produce them in court on Wednesday without fail.

A case (FIR 644/12) was registered under Section 365-B (kidnapping or abduction or inducing woman to compel marriage, etc.) of the Pakistan Penal Code against suspect Ghazi, a house servant of the provincial minister, on a complaint of Khursheed Bibi at the Boat Basin police station in which she stated that the suspect abducted her teenage daughter on Dec 10 in Shah Rasool Colony.

The complainant’s counsel moved an application around a week ago in court for the recovery of the captive and arrest of the suspect by submitting that the police had failed to recover the girl despite a passage of around one month.