KARACHI, Nov 21: An anti-terrorism court sentenced on Wednesday three men to life in prison in a case pertaining to the kidnapping of an infant for ransom.

The court found Danish Javed, Shahbaz alias Faizan and Mohammad alias Faqir Mohammad guilty of kidnapping six-month-old Marriam in North Nazimabad in July 2010 and demanding a ransom of Rs500,000 for her release.

The judge, Bashir Ahmed Khoso, of the ATC-I pronounced the judgment after hearing both sides and ordered to confiscate the property of the convicts.

The court in its judgment observed that the evidence of witnesses was corroborated with the prosecution case and despite lengthy cross-examination their testimonies remained consistent on material points.

The suspects were arrested in the presence of independent witnesses and the kidnap victim was found in their custody while a subscriber identity module (SIM), used in the crime, was also recovered from the possession of a suspect, it added.

The prosecution successfully proved its case against all the accused beyond a shadow of a doubt, the judgment concluded.

The court also held all the three convicts accountable for carrying unlicensed weapons at the time of their arrest and sentenced them to three-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs7,000 each. In case of a default, the convicts would undergo an additional three-month imprisonment. However, both the sentences would run concurrently.According to the prosecution, the three men abducted the child on July 16 in People’s Colony in North Nazimabad and demanded a ransom of Rs500,000 from the child’s father.

A police party, acting on a tip-off, conducted a raid on a hotel in Buffer Zone on the following day, arrested the accused and recovered the abducted child from their possessions, it added.

It further said that unlicensed weapons were also found in the custody of the accused and one of them stated to be a relative of the complainant party.

A case (FIR No.691/2010) was registered under Sections 365-A and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with Section 7(e) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 on the complaint of the victim’s father at the Taimuria police station. The accused were also booked under Section 13-D of the Arms Ordinance.

The accused were produced before the court in custody and after the pronouncement of the judgment the three convicts were sent back to prison along with conviction warrants to serve out their sentences. The court extended the benefit of Section 382-B of the criminal procedure code to the convicts.