Former police constable upheld in rape, child pornography case, Islamabad High Court issues directions to lower courts
ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) has upheld the sentence of a convict in a case of raping a matriculation student and making a nude video of him viral on social media and threatening him with dire consequences.
The former police officer was sentenced to 14 years in prison and fined Rs 1 million in the case. Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani in his judgment also directed the federal government to amend the PICA law and increase the punishment for child pornography from 14 years to 20 years.
The judge also directed the lower courts that once such cases are confirmed in the forensic report, there is no need to summon the aggrieved party to the courts. It may be recalled that the Additional Sessions Judge of Islamabad had last year sentenced Shehzad Khaliq to 14 years imprisonment and a fine of Rs. 10 lacks.
The case against the convict Shehzad Khaliq was registered in the year 2020 in Aabpara police station. According to prosecutor Khadija Ali, the accused in the case was Shehzad Khaliq, an Islamabad police officer.
An Islamabad police spokesman also confirmed the incident but said it was suspended after a case was registered. According to public prosecutor Khadija Ali, the convict had also mentioned his suspension in his statement in the lower court.
It should be noted that this police officer was fired after being sentenced by the lower court in the case.
Thousands of pornographic pictures and videos recovered from the culprit's phone
A local court sentenced a man to seven years in prison for child pornography and five years in prison for making obscene videos and blackmailing him, and two years in prison for threatening to kill him at gunpoint.
Justice Mohsin Akhtar Kayani dismissed the appeal against the convict's sentence, citing international law in child pornography cases as well as guidelines for following international standards.
The decision said that in such cases the victim child should not be produced in court with the accused and the statement of the victim child should be recorded through video link. The judge also directed the lower courts to ensure that in-camera trials of child pornography cases are conducted.
It is to be noted that during the investigation of this case, Islamabad police had recovered a mobile phone and an unlicensed pistol from the possession of the accused. The verdict states that the forensic report of the mobile phone used by the accused during the interrogation was obtained from the National Response Center for Cyber Crimes, FIA.
According to the FIA's forensic report, 22,800 photos and 839 videos were recovered from the suspect's mobile phone.
Citing the report, the court said that hundreds of pornographic videos were recovered from the mobile phone and most of the videos contained the appellant himself.