KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced a man to 25 years in prison for raping his teenage stepdaughter at his home within the jurisdiction of the Defence police station.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Abdul Zahoor Chandio found Sohail Ahmed guilty on two counts and awarded him 25-year imprisonment for committing rape of his 16-year-old stepdaughter and two-year jail for physically injuring his wife.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 and directed him to pay Rs200,000 to the survivor as compensation.

According to state prosecutor Irfana Qadri, the mother of the survivor told the police that she had two daughters with her first husband and she married the accused in 2023 and they lived together.

She further claimed that in April, 2025, her 16-year-old daughter disclosed that her stepfather had sexually assaulted her and threatened her with dire consequence if she told anybody about the offence.

However, the survivor informed her mother about his crime and when the mother confronted the accused regarding the allegation, he allegedly became angry and beat the complainant and fled away.

The complainant approached the police and named him as an accused in an FIR.

On the other hand, defence counsel denied the allegations and contended that the complainant — who used to work as house help — was not at home when the alleged incident took place. He also highlighted delay in the FIR and added that no DNA report had supported the allegations against the accused.

However, the court rejected the defence pleas and noted that the survivor gave a specific explanation that the accused remained in the house for approximately four days after committing the offence and he had also threatened her and her 12-year-old sister with dire consequences.

When the survivor disclosed the incident to her mother, she confronted the accused, who beat her and fled away, after which she went to the police station.

“The explanation, when viewed in the context of the domestic relationship between the accused and victim, cannot be discarded as inherently improbable,” it observed.

A case was registered at the Defence police station under Sections 376(3) and 337-L-(ii) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2026