DEPALPUR: In a rare exercise of judicial compassion alongside conviction, the Sessions Court Depalpur directed that half of a Rs 500,000 fine imposed on a convicted rapist-murderer be paid directly to the legal heirs of his child victim, invoking Section 545 of the Code of Criminal Procedure to compensate the family that lost an intellectually challenged 11-year-old girl to rape and murder.
The order came as Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Amir Munir convicted Muhammad Nadeem on all three charges – abduction, rape, and murder – of a minor girl who disappeared near her home on October 7, 2024.
According to 18-page verdict available with Law Today, the prosecution’s account recorded in FIR No. 1634/2024 registered at Police Station Saddar Depalpur, the victim – an intellectually challenged girl aged approximately 11 to 12 years – had accompanied her elder sister to a nearby tube well for washing clothes when she went missing. She never reached her sister nor returned home. A frantic search by the family and local witnesses proved fruitless, and an FIR was filed against unknown persons.
The following day, on October 8, 2024, the child’s dead body was recovered from a maize crop on land belonging to one Allah Nawaz at approximately 3:00 PM. Witnesses described a harrowing scene: the child’s neck bore a cloth stuffed into her mouth, blood oozed from her eyes and mouth, and she had been strangled with her own shalwar. The body was shifted to THQ Hospital Okara for postmortem. The prosecution’s case rested heavily on forensic science. DNA samples taken from the accused were matched by the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) with swabs recovered from the victim – conclusively linking Muhammad Nadeem to the crime.
The court, while acknowledging that the two last seen witnesses were unreliable due to contradictions exposed in cross-examination, held that the chain of scientific and medical evidence was intact and sufficient. Describing DNA profile matching as the ‘silent witness’ in the case, Judge Munir held that the prosecution had established its case beyond reasonable doubt even in the absence of direct eyewitness evidence. The defence had mounted an extensive challenge, arguing prior enmity between the families, a broken chain of custody for forensic samples, absence of independent witnesses, and several procedural lapses in the police investigation.
The court examined each contention and dismissed them, observing that minor technical lapses by the police in a case of this heinous nature could not be allowed to benefit the accused when the scientific evidence otherwise reached his neck. The accused’s own statement under Section 342 CrPC – claiming he was falsely implicated due to a property dispute – was held to be an afterthought insufficient to dislodge the prosecution’s evidence.
The court convicted and sentenced Muhammad Nadeem while awarding 14 years rigorous imprisonment for abduction under Section 364-A PPC; imprisonment for life with a fine of Rs5,00,000 for rape under Section 376(iii) PPC; and imprisonment for life as Ta’zir for murder under Section 302(b) PPC. The sentences are to run consecutively, not concurrently – a decision the court justified given the grave nature of offences that, in its words, ‘bring down the morale of society for the free living and movement of children for their safe upbringing.’
Death penalty, though legally available, was not awarded. The court cited the lapses in the prosecution’s evidence – particularly the collapse of the ‘last seen’ testimony – as mitigating circumstances warranting that the administration of justice be kept on safe ground. Exercising its powers under Section 545-A CrPC, the court additionally burdened the convict with Rs5,00,000 in compensation payable to the legal heirs of the deceased.
Under Section 545 CrPC, the court further ordered that half the fine – Rs.2,50,000 – be paid directly to the victim’s family. In case of non-payment, the accused shall suffer an additional six months of simple imprisonment, with recovery to be treated as arrears of land revenue. Payment is subject to the lapse of the appeal period.
As required under Section 24 of the Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) Act 2021, a copy of the judgment has been directed to be sent to NADRA Head Office Islamabad for entry of the convict’s name in the national sex offenders register. The trial record is being transmitted to the Lahore High Court within three days of pronouncement, as mandated by law.
