Asma murder case: Mardan girl convicted of raping and killing a minor sentenced to 88 years in prison
A court has sentenced a minor to a total of 88 years in prison for raping and killing a four-year-old girl, Asma, four years ago in Mardan District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, Pakistan.
The sentence was handed down by a special court judge for children.
The court wrote in the judgment that the offense has been fully proved under section 302b of the law of Pakistan but since the offender is a minor, the offender cannot be sentenced to death as per Juvenile Justice System Act 2018.
Zainab's murder case in Kasur district of Punjab province of Pakistan was followed by the murder of four-year-old girl Asma in Mardan district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who was killed after being raped.
Pakistan has seen an increase in the number of rapes and murders of minors since 2017, following amendments to the Child Protection Act, the Child Courts and the Juvenile Justice System Act. To be effective and to take steps for the betterment of children.
Court decision
Judge Ijaz Ahmed of the Mardan District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday issued the verdict.
Asman's father Bahram's lawyer Adnan Ali Advocate told the BBC that the court yesterday sentenced the convict to 88 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 130,000 and these sentences will continue simultaneously.
He said that the convict who has spent more than three years in jail will also be included in the sentence.
The court sentenced him to 25 years imprisonment under Section 302B of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code. Both the punishments include a fine of Rs 20,000 and Rs 100,000.
The court ruled that Rs 100,000 would be given to the legal heirs of the deceased.
According to Adnan Ali Advocate, the court has sentenced him to 14 years rigorous imprisonment under section 364 of the Pakistan Penal Code and seven years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 under section 363.
In addition, the court sentenced him to three years rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs 10,000 under section 37 of the Child Protection and Welfare Act 2010 while he was sentenced to 14 years rigorous imprisonment under section 53.
Advocate Adnan Ali said that these punishments are "concurrent" ie they will continue together, ie in the general term the maximum sentence will be spent in prison.
When and how did the crime take place?
The incident took place in January 2018 in Gujar Dhari village of Mardan when a four-year-old girl Asma went missing while playing in front of her house.
After a thorough search, the girl's body was found in a sugarcane field near her home.
Initially, the local police vehemently denied that the girl had been raped, and later the district nazim of Mardan, through a lady doctor stationed at the hospital, said that the girl had been raped.
Locals had demanded the arrest of the accused and inclusion of terrorism and rape provisions in the FIR.
Advocate Adnan Ali said that the case was first started in the anti-terrorism court in which the convict was convicted against which an appeal was lodged in the Peshawar High Court and then the Peshawar High Court sent the decision back to the Child Courts. In which the anti-terrorism sections were removed and due to the young age of the boy, the trial of this case started in Mardan Child Court.
According to Adnan Ali Advocate, the age of the convict is written as 14 to 15 years in the court document.
Behram, the father of four-year-old Asma, told the BBC that his life had changed dramatically since the incident and that he was being threatened.
He said that he has been under pressure since the arrest of the accused so he appealed to the authorities to provide him protection.
Bahram said he works as a laborer and had gone to Saudi Arabia for labor three months before what happened to Asma.
He says, "It took a lot of effort to get to Saudi Arabia, the money was collected and all of a sudden there was an incident after which he cameback to Pakistan and in the meanwhile his Saudi visa was canceled.
He said,''They have young children, they have not been able to get an education and now their livelihood is very difficult.''
Child protection and punishment?
Pakistan's child protection and welfare laws have been amended, while measures have also been proposed under the Juvenile Justice System for children involved in a crime.
Imran Tucker, a children's rights activist, told that much of the work he has done to protect children has been focused on prevention so that incidents involving children do not occur. If there is a crime against or children involved in a crime.
He asserted that his confession had been obtained through torture, but that this was not the case.
Imran Tucker said that if a minor is involved in a crime and the court convicts him, then under the law the minor offender cannot be kept in jail but there should be rehabilitation centers for him which unfortunately are nowhere in Pakistan. Therefore, such criminals are kept in a separate section inside the jail.
What do the experts say?
Omar Sajjad, an advocate for children's rights, said that there is no difference between the sentences of a person under 18 and those who are 18 years of age or above, but a minor cannot be sentenced to death. And that the juvenile offender cannot be severely punished.
"We have to be more sensitive about children's cases, so children's cases should be in a place where there are no major culprits or criminals and if a child is punished, he should not be kept with the adults," he said. There should be no concept of prison for them and there should be rehabilitation centers for them.
He said that separate rehabilitation centers for juvenile offenders should be set up in the law and these rehabilitation centers would not be inside the jail but would be separate where steps would be taken to make children better human beings for example children. Will include educating them, making them skilled and training them.
According to Imran Tucker, child courts have been set up in eight districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and under the Juvenile Justice System 2018, efforts have been made to focus on training, welfare and making them better citizens of the society.
He said, ''On the contrary, practically no action has been taken because there are no rehabilitation centers anywhere under the juvenile justice system and these children are forcibly kept in jail.''
''Although these prisons have separate barracks, it is not in accordance with the law.''