Man jailed for assaulting wife, adopted daughter

LAHORE: A model criminal court for minor offences in Lahore has sentenced a man to prison and imposed fines after finding him guilty of assaulting his wife and adopted daughter in a domestic violence case.

The case arose from a first information report registered by Chuhng police on Sept 21, 2024, on the complaint of Ms Shabana Kausar. According to the complaint, her husband, Maqsood Ali, had repeatedly subjected her and their adopted daughter to physical abuse. The FIR stemmed from an incident on Sept 13, 2024, when he allegedly beat the complainant and tried to attack her with a stick, forcing her to run to a neighbour’s home and call the emergency rescue helpline.

Court findings

The defence denied that the incident had taken place. The defence counsel argued that the couple had no biological children and said the complainant had invented the allegations to stop the accused from entering into a second marriage. The defence also pointed to what it described as inconsistencies and improvements in the prosecution witnesses’ statements, along with the lack of independent witnesses.

Judicial Magistrate Hamidul Rehman Nasir rejected that line of argument, observing that people generally avoid becoming witnesses in such matters to escape hostility. He also referred to the investigating officer’s testimony that neighbours had declined to join the investigation. The magistrate further relied on a recent Supreme Court ruling that described domestic violence as a "bedroom crime" ordinarily committed within the privacy of the home. He held that the absence of independent witnesses was therefore a natural outcome of the place where the offence occurred, rather than a flaw in the prosecution case.

The accused had initially been charged under Section 354 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which deals with assault or use of criminal force against a woman with intent to outrage her modesty. After examining the statements of the complainant, the victim and the investigating officers, the court held that the prosecution had not proved the ingredients required for conviction under that provision. However, the magistrate found that the evidence did establish beyond reasonable doubt that the accused had physically assaulted both victims without any grave or sudden provocation.

Sentence

The court convicted Maqsood Ali under Section 352 of the PPC. For assaulting his wife, he was sentenced to three months’ rigorous imprisonment and fined Rs15,000, with an additional five days’ simple imprisonment in case of default. For assaulting the adopted daughter, he was handed another three months’ rigorous imprisonment and a fine of Rs15,000, again with five days’ simple imprisonment in default of payment.

The magistrate ordered both sentences to run concurrently. Following the judgment on July 6, court officials took the convict into custody and sent him to District Jail Lahore to serve the sentence.