The Sessions Court sentenced a man to ten years of rigorous imprisonment for raping his daughter-in-law.
Irshad Ahmed was found guilty of assaulting a woman in April last year. The Additional Magistrate (Central) ruled that the prosecution had succeeded in framing the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt. She sentenced him to ten years in prison and a fine of Rs 50,000. In case of failure to pay the fine, he would have to spend another six months in prison.
The judge observed that it was an alarming situation that the accused, who was like a father to the victim, had sexually abused her, which was “not only an offense but also a sin, so these kinds of crimes should be dealt with with an iron hand”.
She said women are not safe in their own home due to such an offense which is a stigma for the entire society. Public prosecutor Hina Naz argued that the victim, who is also the complainant in the case, has fully implicated the accused in the case, adding that there is enough evidence to link him to the commission of the heinous crime. She asked the court to punish the accused according to the law.
The victim testified that she had been living with her husband and his parents since her marriage in 2021. On 19 April 2023, she accused Irshad, finding her alone in the house, entered her room and sexually abused her.
The woman stated that the defendant had raped her several times before this incident, but she remained silent for the sake of her and the family's honor and because of his blackmail. She further denied informing her husband of her ordeal, but he instead asked her to keep mum.
She said she then went to her parents' house and reported her father-in-law's act to her mother, following which a case was registered against him. The defendant, on the other hand, claimed that he was innocent, saying that he was involved in a fake case. A case was registered at the Bilal Colony police station under Section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
