KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced a man to 10-year imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping a physically-challenged woman in 2023.

Additional District and Sessions (Central) Judge Mirza Tauseef Ahmed, who is also presiding officer of the Gender-Based Violence Court (Central), found Mohammad Nadeem alias Baloch guilty for committing an offence punishable under Section 376 (rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) observing that the medical evidence and the statement of the survivor corroborated with each other.

The judge also ordered the convict to pay Rs100,000 as compensation for the anguish and psychological damage caused to the victim.

According to state prosecutor Hina Naz Shams, the complainant had testified that she had come to Karachi from Punjab to live with her husband. The prosecutor added that the victim came to know later that her husband had contracted a second marriage and he had allegedly forced her to do domestic work for earning money.

However, upon her refusal, her husband forced her into prostitution, and one day her husband brought the accused, his friend, who sexually assaulted her.

Later, with the help of one of her relatives, the complainant managed to lodge a case against the accused, along with her husband and others. The co-accused have been declared absconders in the case.

Regarding the defence’s contentions that no marks of resistance were found in the medical report, the court observed that “as to non-resistance by the victim at the time of incident is concerned, she also explained that she was beaten up by her husband when she refused. She is also a polio patient and she cannot be expected to resist physically.”

“All these circumstances, show that as she was not able to work and earn for her husband, her husband brought another person for earning money through sexual services and she was subjected to rape,” it added.

After conclusion of the trial, the victim had filed affidavit for exoneration of the accused; however, the court rejected the plea and noted that it appears to be an outside settlement but no any benefit of such settlement can be given to the accused as the offence of rape which also affects the society at large is made non-compoundable by the legislature.

The case was registered at the New Karachi police station under Section 376 (rape), 109 (abetment) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, June 19th, 2026