GILGIT: The Gilgit-Baltistan Anti-Terrorism Court on Tuesday sentenced four persons to death for killing a 15-year-old boy after sexual assault in Ghizer district.

The ATC also awarded 25-year imprisonment and Rs200,000 fine to each convict.

They were also asked to pay Rs300,000 each to the family of the victim as compensation.

The convicts were identified as Noor Azam, Noor Mohammad, Mohammad Umer and Aziz, residents of Ishkoman valley of Ghizer district.

The victim’s father, also a resident of Ishkoman valley, had registered an FIR against the accused in Immit police station on Feb 4. He had claimed that his son, a student of grade nine, was brutally murdered by the convicts after sexual assault. The mutilated body of the victim was found from under a stone in Ghizer River on Feb 2.

The police had arrested the accused and the government had constituted a Joint Investigation Team. During the investigations, the accused had confessed to the crime.

After hearing arguments from both the sides, ATC judge Raja Shahbaz Khan announced the verdict under Section 302 (punishment for murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 6 and 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

The judge observed that after completion of the investigation by JIT, the accused were formally charged. The prosecution to prove their case relied on circumstantial evidence, medical reports, he ruled in the order.

According to the court order, the convicts had kidnapped the boy, subjected him to sexual assault and brutally murdered him by strangulating his neck. They later dumped the body under a stone in Ghizer River.

“What was most shocking was that the culprits placed a stone inside the trousers of the deceased and heavy stones on his legs to keep the body from coming onto the surface of water,” the judgment said.

The judge observed that the ‘heinous and brutal’ crime had terrorised the society.

After the incident massive protests were held across Gilgit-Baltistan demanding justice and exemplary punishments to the murderers.

Nazir Ahmed Advocate, the counsel for the victim’s family, told Dawn that the heinous crime had shocked the relatively peaceful Ghizer district.

He said ATC speedily proceeded with the case and concluded it within a month.

Published in Dawn, April 17th, 2019