Man gets life term for raping seven-year-old stepsister

• Life imprisonment awarded under Section 376(3).
• Case relates to a 2024 incident in Qayyumabad.
• Court said prosecution proved offence beyond reasonable doubt.

KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced a man to life imprisonment for sexually assaulting his minor stepsister.

The court convicted Ali Hassan over an incident involving the seven-year-old girl at their home in Qayyumabad in 2024.

In the written order, the additional sessions judge (South) held that the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused committed rape of a child under seven at the time.

The judge sentenced the convict to life imprisonment for the offence punishable under Section 376(3) of the Pakistan Penal Code. He also ordered the convict to pay Rs500,000 as a fine or undergo an additional three years of simple imprisonment on default.

According to state prosecutor Irfana Qadri, on November 23, 2024, the accused subjected the seven-year-old girl to sexual abuse at a house in Qayyumabad. The victim testified before the court that her stepbrother sexually abused her. She said that this was not the first time, as he used to show her sexually explicit videos.

The victim claimed that her stepfather also assaulted her, adding that when she cried, her mother intervened, but her father beat her mother, and her aunts threatened them.

Advocate Bahzad Akbar of the Legal Aid Society, who represented the complainant, contended that the offence of rape, particularly against a minor, had been established. He said that the sole testimony of the victim was sufficient for conviction if found credible and corroborated by medical evidence.

In his written order, the judge noted that the victim’s assertion that the accused committed the act multiple times was consistent with the medical opinion of repeated assault.

He said the medico-legal officer’s opinion that the victim was subjected to repeated sexual assault corroborated the victim’s testimony in its entirety.

“The negative DNA report is inconsequential and as explained by the doctor is attributable to the significant lapse of time between the last incident and the medical examination. It is a settled legal principle that a conviction for rape can be sustained solely on the credible testimony of the victim and medical evidence is corroborative.”

He said the defence’s allegation of false implication due to a property dispute was baseless and unsupported by any credible evidence.