KARACHI: A sessions court acquitted a seminary teacher for want of evidence in a case pertaining to the alleged kidnapping and sexual abuse of an 11-year-old boy.

After hearing both sides, Additional District and Sessions Judge (Malir) Liaqat Ali Khoso acquitted Syed Muhammad Moinuddin — who was produced from jail through video link — over lack of evidence, as the prosecution failed to establish its case against him.

Highlighting lacunae in the prosecution’s case, the court noted that contradictions in the statements of prosecution witnesses — particularly concerning the initial nomination of the accused in the FIR — coupled with inconclusive and conflicting medical and DNA evidence, created serious and reasonable doubt regarding the guilt of the accused.

“The victim’s testimony is highly significant, especially in sexual offences involving children. It is a well-established rule of prudence that such evidence, particularly when uncorroborated by independent, credible evidence and when containing inconsistencies, requires careful scrutiny and independent corroboration. In this case, the medical evidence, far from corroborating the victim’s account of an unnatural offence, largely contradicts it by showing no physical signs of injury and providing an inconclusive DNA report with an actual exclusion of the accused from a key sample,” the court observed.

It noted that the complainant and the witness who lodged the FIR had made statements regarding the nomination of the accused, but significant inconsistencies and ambiguities in the medical and DNA evidence were material in nature.

“Such contradictions render the prosecution’s case unreliable,” it added.

According to the prosecution, the complainant stated that in June 2023, at the main bazaar Sukhya Goth, Scheme-33, Karachi, his son went missing and got recovered after a month and 14 days. The complainant claimed that his son informed him that his seminary teacher had abducted him, taken him to Punjab, where the accused confined and tortured, and committed sexual offence with him.

During the trial, the accused denied the allegations of the prosecution, professed his innocence and claimed false implication in the case. However, the accused neither examined himself on oath nor produced any witness in his defence.

A case was registered at the Site Super Highway Industrial Area police station under Sections 364-A (kidnapping or abducting a person under the age of fourteen) and 377-B (unnatural offences) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, July 31st, 2025