ISLAMABAD: A local court on Thursday convicted a policeman of raping his daughter and sentenced him to life in prison.

District and Sessions Judge (east) Sohail Ikram also imposed a Rs100,000 fine on the constable for raping his 20-year-old daughter for four consecutive years.

The rape survivor, a schoolteacher, lodged a complaint with the Koral police on July 29, 2015, alleging that in addition to rape her father also used to beat her.

She said she brought the matter into the notice of her relatives but no one was even ready to accept her allegations. She then informed the school principal about the matter who advised her to approach the police.

In the FIR, the rape survivor expressed apprehensions that her father might kill her in order to hide the crime.

After lodging the FIR, the police arrested the accused and submitted a charge sheet to the court.

When the court indicted the accused in September last year, he pleaded not guilty and claimed to contest the allegations. After the indictment, the complainant informed the court that she had reached a compromise with her father and did not want to pursue the case.

However, the prosecutor said since the accused was facing the rape case under section 376 of the PPC, which was a non-compoundable offence, an out-of-court settlement could not affect the court proceedings. Subsequently, the survivor recorded her statement.

Published in Dawn, November 25th, 2016