PAKISTAN: COURT AWARDS DEATH SENTENCES TO TWO IN A MINOR RAPE, MURDER CASE

October 28, 2021:

A district and sessions court in Rawalpindi on 26 October 2021 awarded death sentences to two persons for raping and murdering a minor girl.
Babar Masih and Muhammad Adnan were found guilty of killing a nine-year-old girl Zainab after they raped her in the Civil Lines area on 22 March.
Additional District and Sessions Judge Muhammad Afzal Majoka pronounced the verdict after recording evidence of the witnesses and final arguments from both sides.
The court also imposed a fine of Rs500,000 each on both the convicts.
The judge also awarded seven years imprisonment and a fine of Rs100,000 to a co-accused, Aniqa for abetting in the crime.
Both convicts have been shifted to the death cell after the court announced the verdict.
The court completed the hearing of the case in seven months while strict security measures had been put in place in the court areas with heavy deployment of police contingents.
The incident took place in the Jhanda Chechi area where the minor girl, Zainab, went missing after she left her home to buy something from a nearby shop. Her body was later found from under the bed of her neighbour.