PAKISTAN: SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS DEATH SENTENCE OF MAN WHO RAPED, MURDERED 8-YEAR-OLD GIRL

February 8, 2021:

Pakistan’s top court on 5 February 2021 dismissed an appeal filed by a man convicted to death for the rape and murder of an 8-year old girl in Punjab’s southern district Vehari.
A three-member bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SCP) upheld the death sentence which was awarded to the petitioner Ali Haider alias Pappu by the trial court.
The verdict was authorised by Justice Syed Mansur Ali Shah while the other two judges were Justice Mazhar Alam Khan Miankhel and Justice Manzoor Ahmed Malik.
According to the apex court’s ruling, “The prosecution has proved its case against the petitioner beyond reasonable doubt. Therefore, we are not persuaded to espouse a view different from that given by the trial court and confirmed by the High Court as to the convictions and sentences of the petitioner”.
In the court’s own words, in this June 2016’s “troubling and gut-wrenching” case of rape and murder 8-year old Rimsha Bibi left her house for summer tuition in the neighbourhood but went missing and initially, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against an unidentified person.
However, in the supplementary statement recorded next day, two witnesses Jabbar Hussain and Tufail Shah revealed that they had seen the accused coming out of a field from where the dead body of the girl was recovered.
According to them when he was coming out of the field, Haider was tightening the string of his trousers.
The petitioner was arrested, indicted and sentenced to death by the trial court. In due course the Lahore High Court also maintained the convictions and sentences of the petitioner.