MUZAFFARABAD: An additional district criminal court on Tuesday sentenced a man to death on three different counts and Rs6 million fine for raping and brutally murdering an 11-year-old girl in the jurisdiction of Dadyal police station in district Mirpur late last year.

According to a complaint lodged by her brother in Dadyal police station on November 19, Kanwal Matloob had left for the nearby bazaar at about 4pm on Nov 8 but did not return home.

Speaking to Dawn from Mirpur by telephone, he maintained that police took this case as a challenge and checked mobile phone data of more than 20,000 people of the area and used geofencing technology to get hold of a suspect from Faisalabad on Dec 1.

During investigations the 24-year-old, Moeen Bashir, who was staying with his brother in a rented abode in the same area confessed to luring the minor girl to a nearby jungle, raping and later strangling and stoning her to death.

On his indication, the police recovered the dead body and the stones he had used to hit and kill the girl, recorded the statements of the complainant and others under section 161 of CrPC and submitted the challan in the case on Jan 29 in the additional district criminal court, he said.

On the orders of the then prime minister and chief justice of the high court, the trial of the case was held on a daily basis which led to the announcement of judgment in eighty days,the SSP said.

The court, comprising additional session judge Mohammad Idrees Bhatti and additional district Qazi Mohammad Sarfraz Abbasi, handed down death penalty under section 364-A of Penal Code for kidnapping the victim for rape, death penalty and Rs5 million fine under section 377-A (1) of Penal Code for rape with a minor and death penalty under section 302(b) of Penal Code for murdering the victim.

He was also fined Rs1 million under 544-A CrPC as compensation to the victim’s family. In default of payment, the amount would be recovered from the convict’s property under land revenue act and paid to the victim’s family, the court held.

Execution would take place after endorsement of the of capital punishment by the Shariat appellate bench of the AJK high court.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2022