KARACHI: The Sindh High Court has upheld a life sentence handed down to an appellant by a trial court for raping a nine-year-old girl.

The SHC noted that no cogent reason was given for a false accusation; medical report supported the allegations; witnesses corroborated each other and the victim’s testimony was trustworthy.

A sessions court (Sujawal) had sentenced Mohammad Moosa to life in prison in January 2021 for subjecting a minor to rape in June 2018 within the remit of the Jhok Sharif police station.

Thereafter, the convict through his counsel had challenged the conviction order of the trial court before the SHC and after hearing both sides and examining the record and proceedings of the case, the two-judge bench headed by Justice Omar Sial dismissed the appeal and maintained the conviction order.

The bench in its order noted that the medical report has corroborated the testimonies of the victim and other prosecution witnesses.

“We also find it difficult to believe Moosa’s defence that the false rape allegation was made because Moosa had divorced the complainant’s aunt,” it added.

About the impugned sentence, the bench also noted that admittedly, the victim was a minor and therefore, Section 376(3) [whoever commits rape of a minor or a person with mental or physical disability shall be punished with death or imprisonment for life and a fine] of the Pakistan Penal Code would come into play.

It further said: “We are not happy with the fact that a digital insertion was made in the victim by the doctor. The procedure followed to verify virginity was an outdated, rejected and deprecated one. The medico-legal doctors are encouraged to revisit the judgement of the Honourable Lahore High Court in the case of Sadaf Aziz and others v. Federation of Pakistan and others (2021 P Cr. L J 205) and update the procedures they follow to ensure that a dignity of any person, let alone a victim of sexual abuse, is stringently protected.

“All steps were taken promptly by the complainant; no cogent reason was given for a false accusation; medical report supported the allegation; witnesses corroborated each other; the victim’s testimony had a ring of truth to it. We find no reason to interfere with the learned trial court’s judgement. The appeal is therefore dismissed,” it concluded.

The prosecution said that the victim along with her seven-year-old brother was returning home from their maternal grandfather’s home when the convict had forcibly taken her to his house and subjected her to rape.

In the meantime, the victim’s brother had informed his uncle/complainant about the incident and the complainant along with others broke into the appellant’s house and recovered the victim while the convict, armed with a pistol, came out and made his escape. The police later on had arrested him, it maintained.

Published in Dawn, June 9th, 2026