KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced two men, including the driver of an online cab service, to life in prison on two counts on charges of kidnapping and raping a homeless minor girl near Seaview in 2022.
After examining and hearing arguments, Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Abdul Zahoor found Ghulam Rasool and Mohammad Khalid Loond guilty on two counts and sentenced them to life-imprisonment for offences under Sections 364-A (kidnapping or abducting under age person) and 375-A (gang rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
The judge observed that the statements of the survivor as well as the prosecution witnesses, CCTV footage, and information provided by the online cab service company, all corroborated the medical and DNA reports, which revealed that the accused were involved in the offence on the day of the incident.
The judge noted: “As appeared from evidence, victim deposed with remarkable consistency regarding the brutal sexual assault… It is now settled principle of law that in cases of sexual assault, the testimony of the victim, if found to be trustworthy and confidence inspiring, is sufficient by itself to sustain a conviction and no rule of law mandates corroboration in every material particular. However, in the present case, the victim’s ocular account receives complete and independent corroboration from multiple sources.”
According to state prosecutor Irfana Qadri, the 10-year-old girl hailed from flood-hit Shikarpur and was living with her family near Abdullah Shah Ghazi’s shrine in 2022. On the day of the incident, the prosecutor added, the girl was standing near a superstore, where two men approached her and offered to bring her rations. However, when the minor girl seated on the backseat of the car, the accused persons drove the car to an isolated location near Seaview, where they both sexually assaulted her and later threw her at the same place from where she was picked up.
The girl narrated her ordeal to her mother, who lodged an FIR at the Boat Basin police station.
During the trial, Barrister Zahrah Sehr Vayani and Rameez Lalani represented the complainant.
Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2026
