A District Court in Mansehra has awarded 16 years imprisonment to a local cleric on charges of raping a 10-year-old student at his madrassa, reported the Express Tribune.
The cleric, Qari Shamsuddin, had been accused of raping a minor on 27 December 2019.
After a thorough investigation, it was proved that Shamsuddin had raped the student and tortured the victim for two days. The medical report proved the rape as the DNA of the convicted cleric also matched with the victim boy.
Announcing the verdict, Additional District and Session Judge Mansehra Ajmal Tahir awarded 16.5 years imprisonment to Qari Shamsuddin, which includes 14 years and six months in jail for raping the victim and two more years of imprisonment if the convict fails to pay Rs. 0.2 million fine.
The Mansehra police had registered a case in 2019 against the cleric and the hearing of the case was in progress for three years. During this period, the family of the victim was constantly pressurized by the local people to settle the case. However, after the arrest of the accused in 2020, the Mansehra police took the case forward to punish the cleric for his heinous crime.
