KARACHI, Nov 15: An anti-terrorism court on Monday recorded the testimonies of two prosecution witnesses in a case pertaining to the rape and murder of a minor girl. Teenager Sher Khan has been charged with abducting his five-year-old cousin in July within the remit of the Clifton police station and subjecting her to a sexual assault before strangling her.

The witnesses appeared before Judge Syed Hasan Shah Bukhari of the ATC-I, who recorded their statements.

The investigation officer, Sub-Inspector Mehboob Elahi, deposed that the investigation of the case was assigned to him on July 18, adding that he took the accused into custody the following day and during interrogation he confessed to having killed the girl after raping her.

He further said that on July 29 he produced the accused before a judicial magistrate, who recorded his confessional statement under Section 164 of the criminal procedure code.

The IO added that he collected the medical reports, recorded the statements of witnesses under Section 161 of the CrPC and charge-sheeted the accused.

The second witnesses, Romesh Kumar, a shopkeeper, testified that the accused along with the victim came to his shop located near the complainant’s residence before the incident and the following day he came to know that the girl’s body was found in the garbage dump.

The defence lawyer also cross-examined the witnesses.

The hearing was adjourned till Nov 25 for further evidence.

According to the prosecution, the accused took the five-year-old girl to the rooftop of their house on July 17, subjected her to rape and dumped the body in a football ground being used as a garbage dump in the Upper Gizri area after killing her.

A case (FIR 184/2010) was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 364-A (kidnapping a person under the age of 14) and 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act on the complaint of the victim girl’s grandfather at the Clifton police station. Implementation of court orders urged Deputy speaker of the Punjab Assembly Rana Mashhud urged the PPP-led coalition government on Monday to implement the apex court orders in letter and spirit.

Speaking to representatives of the Karachi Bar Association in the committee room, he said that if the decisions of the Supreme Court were not implemented, politicians would join hands with the legal fraternity and decide about launching another long march.