PESHAWAR, Jan 31: The Federal Shariat Court on Tuesday awarded death sentence to an appellant charged with sexually molesting and killing his minor cousin. A full bench of the court with majority decision dismissed his appeal and enhanced his sentence of life imprisonment, awarded by a trial court, to capital punishment.

Two of the judges on the bench, Justice Dr Fida Mohammad Khan and Justice Saeedur Rehman Farrukh, decided to enhance the sentence, whereas the third judge, Justice S. A. Manan, differed with the other two judges.

The deputy advocate general, Akhter Naveed Khan, appeared for the state and contended that the appellant had killed the girl in a brutal manner. He contended that the evidence on record clearly proved the involvement of the appellant in the commission of the offence.

The appellant, Jehanzed Khan, was charged in an FIR registered at police station Banamari on Feb 2, 1996 by his uncle Jan Mohammad. He was convicted by an additional district and sessions judge on May 19, 1998 and was sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs100,000. The court convicted him under the Offence of Zina Ordinance, 1979.

The appellant lived near the residence of the complainant, who was his uncle. One day he entered his uncle’s residence when nobody was around. The appellant took the minor girl aged between 10 and 11 to a room and sexually molested her. The girl fell unconscious and the appellant decided to kill her so as to cover his crime. He slaughtered the girl with a piece of broken glass.