Court commutes couple’s sentence – 13 May 2023
Woman convict released from jail after her life sentence is overturned
RAWALPINDI:
Lahore High Court Court Rawalpindi bench judges Justice Sadaqat Ali Khan and Justice Chaudhary Abdul Aziz on Friday commuted the conviction of a man and his wife, who had been handed down a death sentence and life imprisonment respectively for kidnapping, sexually assaulting, blackmailing and filming obscene videos of dozens of girls in Rawalpindi.
On January 25, 2021, Additional District and Sessions Judge Jahangir Gondal had awarded a death sentence to Qasim Jahangir over rape and recording inappropriate videos while also announcing three-year imprisonment and a total of Rs2.5 million fine.
The court had handed down life imprisonment to his wife Kiran Jahangir along with a fine of one million rupees for assisting him in the crime. The couple had confessed to the sexual assault of 45 girls, taking their photographs and making inappropriate videos of at least 10 victims.
The couple was arrested on August 5, 2019, by Rawalpindi City police on the complaint of a student, who was abducted from outside Gordon College by the couple in a grey car. The student was taken to a house in Gulistan Colony where Qasim raped her while Kiran took pictures and recorded video of the crime.
They threatened and blackmailed the victim by showing her a sexually explicit video. She was dropped on Tipu Road later in the night before the couple escaped. The couple had filed an appeal against their conviction. The court converted Qasim’s death sentence into life imprisonment and overturned Kiran’s life imprisonment and ordered to release her from jail.
The court ordered to return the seized vehicle of the convicts. Kiran Qasim was released from Adiala Jail after the court decision. City Police Station registered this case on August 5, 2019. The case attracted media attention for weeks in 2019 after the married female student was abducted from outside Gordon College by Kiran Jahangir, who had pretended to be a fellow student. Offering a lift to her, Kiran had lied to the student that her brother was coming to pick her up in a while. After a few minutes, a man arrived in a grey car after which the woman pushed the victim inside the vehicle and threatened her with a knife to silence her.
The student was taken to a house in Gulistan Colony where Qasim Jahangir, the husband, raped her while Kiran took pictures and filmed the crime, the victim had said. According to the complainant, the man kidnapped several girls aged between eight and 12 with the help of his wife and subjected them to the heinous crime.
QAISER SHIRAZI