A Karachi sessions court on Friday sentenced a man to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy in October last year.

The accused, Syed Inayat, was found guilty of molesting the victim within the jurisdiction of Liaquatabad police station.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (Central) Zabiha Khattak pronounced the verdict. It was reserved earlier after evidence was recorded and arguments concluded from both sides.

“Today, these types of crime are peaking in the society, creating havoc especially among minors who are kept in fear due to the said act,” she said in the judgement. “This type of crime should be dealt with iron hands.”

The judge ruled that the prosecution had succeeded to establish the case beyond any shadow of doubt against the accused.

He was also fined Rs10,000. If the accused fails to pay the fine he would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.

The judge approved the remand of the convict to serve out the remainder of his sentence.

State prosecutor Hina Naz said the victim had gone to play on the night of Oct 25 last year, when the accused asked the boy to deliver meals to his home in the same vicinity.

She added that as the victim approached the house, the accused followed him inside and closed the door. He assaulted the boy for around 15 minutes and threatened him to not disclose the incident to anyone.

Naz further said the complainant — the victim’s father — had caught the accused from his home after being pointed out by his son. Locals of the area thrashed him before handing him over to the police.

The prosecutor said that medical evidence, including DNA profile matching had established that the offence was committed. She requested the court to punish the accused in accordance with the law.

In her verdict, the judge wrote that the complainant, fully supported the contents of the FIR as well as the memo of the arrest and inspection.

She added that the 11-year-old victim correctly identified the accused person and fully supported the version of the prosecution. “Even [as] he faced cross-examination, but no contradiction came on record.”

In his testimony, recorded under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code (Power to examine the accused), the accused denied the allegations of the prosecution and claimed that all the prosecution witnesses had made false statements against him.

However, he failed to produce any witness in his defence.

His defence counsel Rahat Baig also claimed innocence on part of the accused and pleaded with the court to acquit him of the “false” allegations.

The case was lodged under the Sections 377-B (unnatural offence) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or for a shorter terms) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Liaquatabad police station on the complaint of the victim’s father.

Girl’s rape and murder

Earlier, the body of a 7-year-old girl, who was raped and murdered, was found in Karachi’s Quaidabad area on Friday, police and hospital officials had said.

The body was found on a plot of an under-construction building near Mengal School in Landhi’s Muslimabad colony.

A large number of locals gathered at the spot and expressed their anger over the unfortunate incident.

Malir SSP Irfan Bahadur had told Dawn.com that the girl had gone missing on Thursday around 2pm and her body was found today (Friday).