A local court has sentenced two persons to two years jail in 2002 Harwan kidnapping case.
After hearing additional public prosecutor, Zaffar Iqbal Shaheen and defence counsel, the court of sub-registrar judicial magistrate, Fariqa Nazir said that prosecution has proved beyond doubt that the accused, Manzoor Ahmad Baba and Kadeer Ahmad Baba kidnapped four-year-old boy and demanded ransom money from the victim’s family.
The court said that evidence on record and the entire facts and circumstances of the case prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the accused hatched criminal conspiracy to kidnap the minor boy.
“They kidnapped him from his lawful guardianship and wrongfully confined him in order to extort money from the victim family,” the court said.
The court said the prosecution has been able to bring home the guilt of the both the accused and as such they stand convicted for commission of offences.
The court observed that the offence committed by the accused could have risked the life of the minor and even his family.
“This court cannot shut its eyes towards the trauma which the child must have gone through. The accused have committed a social offence and I am undoubtedly of the view that the accused does not deserve probation,” the judge said.
The court observed that while awarding sentence it has to consider both aggravating as well as mitigating circumstances. “The too harsh sentence or too lenient sentence both fails to serve the ends of justice. The instance case pertains to 2002 and is pending before this court since last 18 years. The accused have been facing the trial since last 18 years,” the court observed. “As such I am of the view that the accused be sentenced to undergo simple imprisonment for two years for commission of offence and two years for the commission of offence wrongful confinement to extort money,” the court said. However, court said all the sentences would run concurrently.
The court also imposed fine of Rs 10,000 on each accused and said in default of payment they shall undergo simple imprisonment for a period of one more month.
In 2002, the accused had kidnapped the minor from his home and then demanded ransom money from his family for his release, on phone.
However, taking cognizance of compliant filed by the victim family, Harwan police trapped the kidnappers and recovered the victim safely.