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KARACHI, Aug 21: An anti-terrorism court on Tuesday recorded final arguments and reserved judgment in the case of kidnapping, rape and murder of a minor girl committed on Feb 22 in the Rizvia Society police station limits.
Judge Ghulam Ali Samtio of ATC-1, who is conducting the trial, fixed Aug 24 for the pronouncement of his order after he heard the arguments from Special Public Prosecutor Niamat Ali Randhawa and defence counsel Mohammad Yousuf Chohan.
Referring to the statements of prosecution witnesses, medical reports and police investigation, the public prosecutor pleaded that the accused be sentenced to death.
The defence lawyer, however, said the case was baseless and registered by police on mala-fide motives.
Accused Saleem Ahmed alias Babloo, son of Abdur Rasheed, was indicted on July 23 but he had pleaded not guilty and opted to contest the case.The court also recorded the statement of the accused once again on Aug 16, who again pleaded not guilty.
Besides police personnel and private witnesses, two doctors and a judicial magistrate have also recorded their statements as prosecution witnesses.
According to the prosecution, three-year-old girl Maryam, daughter of Bashir Ahmed, was kidnapped from near her home and subjected to rape by the accused. The girl fainted and later died. The accused wrapped her body in a cloth sheet and threw it into a sewer.
However, a police constable and a resident of the locality caught him on suspicion of having committed some crime.
He was brought to the Rizvia Society police station, where, according to the police, he confessed to his crime.
The police later retrieved the body from the Gutter Baghicha section of the sewer with the help of Edhi volunteers.
Murderer gets life
The additional district and sessions judge-1, West, Sher Bano Karim, on Tuesday sentenced Mohammad Asif, son of Mohammad Latif, to life imprisonment in a murder case.
According to the prosecution, the convict used to frequent the public call office of Rana Shaukat Ali, son of Rana Mohammad Saleem, but did not pay for the telephone calls made, allowing the amount to pile up to Rs4,500.
They had exchanged hot words on several occasions over the payment of the debt.
The convict with his two unidentified associates came to the PCO on March 4, 2003, first stabbed the victim and then fired at him with a pistol.
The victim was rushed to a hospital, where he died. A case (FIR 64/03) was registered under Section 302/34 of the CrPC against the convict at the Ferozabad police station.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 and in case of non-payment, he would have to undergo an additional six-month imprisonment.
