LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday dismissed convict Imran Ali’s appeal against his death sentence in the rape and murder case of minor Zainab.
On February 17, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) hearing the case had sentenced Imran to death four times. Appealing against the verdict of the ATC, Imran had pleaded not guilty before the LHC and besought for the verdict to be declared null and void.
Justice Sadaqat Ali and Justice Shahram Sarwar, giving its order on Imran’s appeal on Tuesday, ruled that the investigation proved Imran’s involvement and that he was the real culprit.
Dismissing the appeal, Justice Sadaqat remarked that there should be no objections to timely resolution of cases while Justice Shahram said that the convict was caught after his DNA had matched with the one found on the minor’s body.
In the appeal that was submitted to the LHC by the jail administration, Imran had said that the ATC rushed the proceedings and failed to adhere to legal formalities.
It may be noted that seven-year-old Zainab was kidnapped from near her aunt’s house in Kasur on January 4 and was found dead in a garbage heap five days later. On January 23, the authorities claimed to have nabbed her killer, Imran, through a DNA match.
