PESHAWAR: A child protection court has convicted a man for sexually assaulting his teenage cousin and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs500,000.

Judge Lubna Zaman ruled that prosecution proved its case against the accused, Usman, a resident of Mardan district, and the evidence on record connected him with the commission of the offence.

The accused was charged in an FIR registered at Sheikh Maltoon police station in Mardan on February 21, 2023 by the victim girl under section 376 (rape) of Pakistan Penal Code.

The complainant stated that she was going to the residence of her maternal uncle, which was situated nearby the residence of the accused. She claimed that the accused, who was present outside his residence, forcibly took her inside and assaulted her.

Child protection court also imposes Rs500,000 fine on accused

Advocate Wali Khan appeared for the victim and stated that at the time of occurrence the victim was around 17 years of age. He added that after the occurrence, the accused escaped and was subsequently arrested.

He contended that police collected all the required evidence against the accused. He stated that the medical examination of the victim also proved that she was sexually assaulted.

The counsel argued that the most important point in the case was identification of the accused and as he was known to the victim, therefore, there was no requirement of conducting identification parade.

He stated that the accused was directly charged in the FIR and as he was charged for a heinous crime, therefore, he didn’t deserve any leniency.

He argued that in his statement the accused admitted that the complainant was his relative. He added that the accused couldn’t point out any ill will on part of the complainant for which she would have falsely implicated him in the case.

The counsel appearing for the accused contended that his client was falsely charged for the offence. He claimed that the complainant was not a child and in fact she was 20 years of age at the time of occurrence. He added that it was not a case of child sexual abuse.

He claimed that the occurrence had allegedly taken place on February 15, 2023, whereas the FIR was registered after delay of six days, which proved that the same was registered after deliberation.

About delay in registration of the FIR, the complainant’s counsel stated that in such like matters the affected families often avoided visiting police station at the earliest due to stigma attached to such matters. He added when other evidence were enough for conviction of the accused then delay in registration of FIR didn’t matter.

Published in Dawn, September 4th, 2024