KARACHI: A sessions court has sentenced a young man to 10-year imprisonment for raping a teenage girl.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (Central) Mirza Tauseef Ahmed, after hearing arguments and examining evidence from the prosecution and defence sides, found Zeeshan alias Shani guilty of committing rape with the teenage girl while she was alone at her home.

The court also directed the convict to pay Rs100,000 as compensation for the anguish and psychological damage caused to the survivor; on default of payment, he would serve additional imprisonment.

“The maximum punishment for the offence of rape under Section 376, PPC is death penalty, or imprisonment of not less than ten years and up to twenty-five years, and the offender shall also be liable to fine. However, since the convict is a first offender, having no previous criminal record and is young man of aged 22 years, who needs to be integrated in the society after serving out his sentence, he deserves leniency in sentencing,” the judge wrote in the verdict.

According to state prosecutor Hina Naz Shams, the survivor deposed before the court that in June 2024, while she was alone at home in Golimar as her family members had gone out, the brother of their tenant allegedly trespassed into the house and forcibly committed the offence. He also threatened to harm her and her family if she disclosed the incident.

She further stated that she later confided in her elder sister, after which her family came to know about the incident.

She also claimed that the convict’s brother was not present at his home at the time, as he had gone to visit his in-laws with his wife in Hyderabad.

During the trial, the defence counsel denied the allegations leveled against the convict and argued that the FIR was registered after a delay of four days. He claimed that the convict was implicated in the false case due to the refusal of the proposal of marriage of survivour and the convict also had some tenancy disputes. He also highlighted the dispensaries in the FIR and the statement of the survivor.

On the other hand, prosecutor Hina explained the reasons behind the delay in the FIR, while arguing that the complainant and victim fully supported the prosecution’s case, and medical and DNA reports corroborated the charge.

She contended that the defence plea of tenancy dispute and refusal of marriage proposal was unsubstantiated, adding that the survivor had identified the accused.

Regarding the plea of delay, the court noted that “the FIR was lodged with delay of four days, the victim explained that it was due to her honour and threats to her and her family, as well as emotional blackmailing by the accused that he would kill himself.”

It further noted that the accused has taken the defence plea that “there was tenancy dispute between the complainant and his brother and that the complainant wanted to marry the victim with him. Such defence pleas do not match with each other.”

The court observed that the accused failed to produce substantial evidence against his claims, which was his responsibility once the prosecution proved its case through corroborative evidence.The case was registered at Rizvia Society police station under Section 376 (rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, April 14th, 2026