Jan. 12
PAKISTAN:
Sheikhupura college girl abduction case: SC upholds death sentence to
kidnapper----4 others acquitted by sessions court
A full bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday disposed of a case
regarding the abduction of a girl when it learnt that the kidnappers had
been convicted by the Sheikhupura sessions court.
Tariq Saleem Dogar, Lahore deputy inspector general of police (DIG), told
the bench that the main accused, Tahir Sarwar, who had kidnapped a college
girl and later murdered her, had been sentenced to death and fined Rs
100,000 by the sessions judge in Sheikhupura. 2 of his co-accused, Usman
Khalid and Saifur Rehman, had been sentenced to life imprisonment and
fined Rs 100,000 each.
The fines would be given to the family of the murdered girl as
compensation. Judge Talib Hussain Baloch, sessions judge, acquitted four
others: Khalid Ahmed, Muhammad Afzalur Rehman, Muhammad Javed and Muhammad
Hafizur Rehman Yasir.
Ambreen Mustafa - a second year student - was abducted by
women-traffickers 2 years ago in Sheikhupura. The Supreme Court took suo
moto notice of this case and ordered the Punjab Police to rescue the girl
and apprehend her abductors. The Sheikhupura DIG later presented an
inquiry report and told a full bench of the Supreme Court that Ambreen had
been murdered by her captor Tahir Sarwar.
The bench referred the case to the sessions judge in Sheikhupura with the
directive to decide it within 90 days. On Monday, the report of the trial
was presented before the Supreme Court bench.
All police officers concerned, including DIG Dogar, DIG (Sheikhupura)
Muhammad Saqlain, DIG (Investigation) Abdul Majeed, Superintendent of
Police (Investigation) Muhammad Muneer, District Police Officer
(Sheikhupura) Nawaz Warraich, Deputy Superintendent Syed Pervez and
Sub-Inspector Iftikhar Hussain were present in the courtroom.
Assistant Advocate General Punjab Afshan Ghazanfar told the bench that the
law had taken its course and the suo moto case should be disposed of.
The bench comprising Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Rana
Bhagwan Das and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan disposed of the case after
commending the performance of the police in the case.
(source: Daily Times)
