One convict sentenced to death for killing eight-year-old girl after rape, facilitator sentenced to life imprisonment
A court in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's Nowshera District has sentenced one man to death and another to life in prison for torturing and killing eight-year-old Awaz Noor after raping her.
District and Sessions Judge Shahnaz Hameed on Wednesday sentenced the main convict Abdar to death while his facilitator convict Rafiq was sentenced to life imprisonment. Relatives of Awad Noor were also present in the court on the occasion.
The court had completed the hearing of the case and reserved its verdict. A decision in this regard has been issued today.
Awaz Noor's lawyer Azizuddin told the BBC that during the ongoing trial in the Nowshera district court, the main accused had applied for bail, which was rejected by the district court as well as the Peshawar High Court and the Supreme Court.
When did this happen?
The incident took place in January last year in Ziarat Kaka Sahib village in Nowshera district. According to police, Awad Noor, an eight-year-old girl, was returning from her madrassa when on her return, the accused dragged her away and raped her.
The victim's uncle Riaz Ali Shah Kakakhel had told that the girl used to go with her sister to read supra every day at 3 pm. When she returned after reading, the accused boy was standing in the road. He tempted her to give him things. The younger sister went home and he dragged her along. The girl went missing after that.
He said that after the incident, the locals were helping him to find the girl and during that time, the accused was also pretending to be with the people to find the girl. The girl's uncle said, "This boy kept misleading them."
"It simply came to our notice then. Then her younger sister, who went with Noor, said that the same boy had taken her with him. Then we caught him. "
According to the victim's uncle, the accused was reluctant to provide information about the girl even after our arrest and continued to provide false information about the girl. Was in the tank We pulled it out. "
He said that after his arrest, a taxi driver named Rafiq was also with him. Riaz Ali Shah said that the boy used to work in the houses of local people and he is about 18 years old while the accomplice named Rafiq is about 35 years old.
"Our elders decided not to take the law into their own hands and handed them over to the police," said Riaz Ali Shah. But this place was empty and desolate and there were trees.
Abdar was the main accused in the case while Rafiq was the facilitator. Jirgas were held at the local level after the incident and the people of the area had jointly demanded that the culprits involved in the incident be punished severely.
"I didn't know I was talking to my daughter one last time."
The girl's father, Asjad Khan, who has been working in a Gulf country for the past seven years, was informed of the incident by telephone and rushed to Pakistan.
He told that his daughter was talking to him on the telephone before going to school, not knowing that he was talking to her for the last time.
According to Sahil, an NGO working for children's rights, in the year 2020, approximately 2960 cases of child rape were reported across Pakistan, of which 51% were girls and 49% were boys. Similarly, a large number of cases of rape and sexual abuse of children are also pending in the courts.
Approval of child protection law
In Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the provincial cabinet meeting on November 30 approved amendments to the proposed child protection and welfare law. Under the law, anyone who rapes or sexually abuses children will be sentenced to death, and other crimes against children will be punished.
Under the law, those involved in child pornography could face up to 14 years in prison and a fine of up to five million rupees. Criminals who blackmail children by making videos can be sentenced to ten years in prison.
The draft amendment states that those involved in the illegal trafficking of children could be sentenced to 25 years in prison. The law also suggested that a video of the conviction of a child sex offender should be released, but the proposal was not approved.