LAHORE: A sessions court on Tuesday sentenced an elderly man in wheelchair to six years in jail, declaring him guilty of sexually abusing an eight-year-old girl.

Convict Muzaffar Hussain, 60, was present in the court in a wheelchair when Additional District and Sessions Judge Rehmat Ali announced the verdict.

Batapur police had lodged a case in 2017 against the convict under sections 376, 364, and 377-A & B of the PPC. The sections deal with offence of rape, kidnap and sexual abuse.

Defence counsel Hashim Khan Niazi had taken a plea that police medical report had clearly established that the convict was unable to perform the alleged act of rape. Therefore, he argued, the police at a later stage of investigation inserted offences of kidnapping and sexual abuse in the FIR, which showed mala fide of the police.

The counsel said the convict was a neighbour of the alleged victim and had a monetary dispute with her father. He said the complainant implicated the convict in a false case only to blackmail him. On the other side, a deputy prosecutor argued that the convict was found guilty in police investigation.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 on the convict in addition to five-year sentence.

The defence counsel said the conviction would be challenged before the LHC.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2018