The Lahore High Court upheld a 20-year jail term of a man convicted of raping an underage girl and ordered him to pay one million rupees to the baby girl born. The court, dismissing the appeal by the convict against his sentence, ruled, "the minor baby girl born in result of crime committed by the convict is suffering mental anguish and psychological damage for her whole life, thus, she is entitled for the compensation provided under the law."
The court also ruled that the compensation amount ought to be deposited in the name of the minor girl in the shape of Defence Saving Certificates and the amount so deposited ought to be only payable to the minor after she attains her majority. The court said as far as the fine of Rs 100,000 ordered by the trial court was concerned the fine ought to be paid to his victim, Humaira Yasmeen.
Humaira told the court that her parents were out of the house and about 5pm Muhammad Nadeem armed with a pistol climbed up the wall and then sneaked into her house where he raped her. The accused was arrested on October 14, 2010. During an investigation, DNA was conducted which found Nadeem as biological father of the foetus. An additional District and Sessions judge gave him the 20-year imprisonment and fined him Rs 100,000.
The convict's counsel told the court the contents of a First Information Report clearly reflected that the victim of the offence had been committing consensual sex. So, the case was not of rape but fornication and the maximum sentence provided for the offence was five years. The prosecutor said there was no ground to discard the prosecution case and that Section 375 (v) PPC was clear on the point that even consent given by a woman under the age of 16 the offence fell within the definition of rape. He said the prosecution had proved its case against the appellant beyond any shadow of doubt and the trial court had already taken a lenient view while not giving him a death sentence. So, he hardly deserved any further leniency.
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