Man sentenced to life imprisonment for raping cousin in Peshawar

Peshawar: A child protection court in Peshawar convicted a man of sexually abusing his teenage cousin and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs0.5 million.

According to the report, Judge Lubna Zaman while delivering the verdict said that the prosecution has proved the case against the accused Usman, a resident of Mardan district, and the evidence on record has also linked him to the crime.

The accused was charged on February 21, 2023 in a First Information Report (FIR) registered under Section 376 (rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) on behalf of the victim at the Sheikh Multon police station in Mardan.

The complainant stated that she was going to her maternal uncle's house near the house of the accused, who claimed that the accused, who was outside his house, forcibly took the complainant inside and raped her.

Advocate Wali Khan appeared on behalf of the victim and stated that she was around 17 years of age at the time of the incident, adding that the accused escaped after the incident and was arrested later.

He said that the police have collected all the required evidence against the accused and the medical examination of the victim also proved that she was sexually assaulted.

The lawyer argued that the most important point in the case is the identity of the accused and since he knew the victim, there was no need to conduct an identification parade.

He said that the accused was directly charged in the FIR and since he was accused of a heinous crime, he did not deserve any relief.

The lawyer argued that in his statement, the accused admitted that the complainant was his relative, adding that the accused could not prove any reason on behalf of the complainant to implicate the victim in a false case.

The accused's counsel argued that his client was falsely accused of the crime, claiming that the complainant was not a child and was 20 years old at the time of the incident, adding that this was not a case of child sexual abuse.

He claimed that the incident allegedly took place on February 15, 2023 while the FIR was registered after a delay of six days, which proved that the case was filed after deliberation.

Regarding the delay in the registration of FIR, the complainant's counsel said that in such cases the families of victims often avoid going to the police station at the earliest because of the stigma attached to such cases, adding that delay in the FIR does not matter when other evidence is sufficient to convict the accused.