Lahore ATC awards life sentence to two men for acid attack

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court in Lahore on Thursday awarded life imprisonment to two culprits for throwing acid on the face of a woman after she refused their marriage proposal.

Johar Town police had arrested prime suspect Muhammad Ahmad and his accomplice Shah Nawaz on June 07, 2021, after they threw acid on the face of Maryam Nousher. The convicts had thrown acid when she was going to work. The acid had caused severe burn injuries on her face, neck and hands.

In its written judgment, ATC judge Ejaz Ahmad Buttar wrote that both convicts have been awarded life imprisonment under section 336-B PPC with a fine of Rs1 million each.

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The court also handed down 10 years of jail imprisonment to each of the accused under section 324 PPC and another 10 years jail term under section 336 PPC for causing disfigurement. The judge also ruled that diyat would also be paid by the convicts to the victim.

The court, however, made it clear that all the sentences of imprisonment awarded to the convicts would run concurrently and they would be given the benefit of section 382-B CrPC.

The court observed that it is now well established that skin is the largest independent organ of the human body and the burn caused to such an organ has impaired the capacity of the portion which contacted acid.

“As far as the quantum of sentences is concerned, it is to be noted that throwing acid on the faces and other bodily parts of women is an extremely heinous crime which not only leads to great deal of physical and mental pain, anguish and trauma for the victim and their family but can also lead to disfigurement for life which will in most cases have negative implications on the social life of victim in terms of marriage and going out of the house and interacting with other people. Such heinous offenders deserve no leniency from the court of law,” the judge wrote in the verdict.

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The court ruled that the prosecution had established and proved its case beyond any reasonable doubts. The judge added that the presence of an eyewitness also showed that there was no chance of mistaken identity.

The court also discarded the defence counsel claim that the victim had poured boiling water on herself after Muhammad Ahmad refused to marry her.

“It is not plausible and beyond prudence,” said the verdict.

“In my considered view, the motive part of the occurrence is established since defence has admitted, the relationship of accused Muhammad Ahmad and Maryam Nousher. It was the refusal of the victim to marry him which resulted into burn injuries, inflicted by the accused after throwing acid,” ruled the judge.

The court further ruled that the accused are residents of Pakpattan and they had come to Lahore not to throw acid on the victim as revenge.