PESHAWAR: A local court has convicted a man of killing his seven-year-old niece for making noise and awarded him life imprisonment and Rs300,000 fine.

Additional district and sessions judge Bakht Alam ruled that the prosecution had proved the charge against the accused, Fazal Hayat, a resident of Tehkal area, while the evidence on record connected him with the commission of the offence.

The court ordered the payment of the amount of fine to the legal heirs of the deceased and declared that in case of non-payment of fine, the convict should undergo six months long simple imprisonment.

It also extended the benefit of Section 382-B of the Code of Criminal Procedure under which the period of his detention prior to conviction will be included in his jail term.

The convict was named in an FIR registered by the Tehkal police station on April 22, 2020 under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 13 of the Arms Act.

The complainant in the case was the deceased’s father, Hayatullah, who claimed that he was present in his house along with other family members at the time of killing.

He said his elder brother, Fazal Hayat, who lived in the upper portion of the house, got irritated by the noise made by children, so he first started hurling abuses at the children and then pulled out a gun and fired at them injuring his daughter, Eshaal.

The complainant added that the child was taken to the hospital but she didn’t survive.

Deputy public prosecutor Shah Saud appeared for the state and contended that the accused was directly named in the FIR. He said the eyewitness account of the occurrence corroborated with the prosecution’s case and that there was no doubt left that the minor girl was killed by the accused.

Mr Saud said it was an intentional murder, so the accused deserved no leniency.

IMPERSONATOR HELD: An alleged impersonator was arrested by the local police after his pre-arrest bail was rejected by an additional district and sessions judge in a case.

He was accused of appearing for another candidate in a written test conducted for recruitment in the Frontier Constabulary.

Judge Shah Mehmood ruled that the petitioner, Abdul Majid, didn’t deserve to be extended the concession of pre-arrest bail.

The petitioner was named in the FIR registered at the Hayatabad police station.

An official of the Frontier Constabulary is complainant in the FIR.

He alleged that the petitioner had appeared in the written FC recruitment test conducted on Jan 6, 2022, for another candidate.

The petitioner was charged under different provisions of the PPC.

Published in Dawn, February 22nd, 2022