Karachi, Feb 2 (PTI) A Pakistani court on Wednesday sentenced a man to 16 years of imprisonment for torturing and raping a three-year-old girl in 2017.

The district and sessions court in Karachi also imposed a fine of PKR 50,000 on the convict, Naeem Ahmed. In case of default on payment of the fine, he will have to spend an additional six months in prison.

Also Read | UK's Embattled PM Boris Johnson Seeks Reset With Major Economic Plan.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (east) Javed Haider Phulpoto also directed the man to pay PKR 10,000 in compensation to the complainant, and ruled that in case of default on this payment, he would have to undergo an additional imprisonment for a month.

Ahmed was found guilty of taking the girl forcibly to his house while she was playing outside her house in Korangi Industrial Area and raped her.

Also Read | COVID-19 Death Toll in US Reaches Highest Level, Says Report.

His wife was also named in the case on charges of facilitating the crime but was acquitted due to the lack of evidence against her.

The complainant's lawyer, advocate Aasia Munir, told the court that the victim's brother was an eyewitness to this event and had informed his parents about it.

Ahmed had initially denied having any information about the victim's whereabouts, but later said the girl had gone to a wedding with his wife, the counsel told the court.

Munir said when Ahmed brought the girl back to her parents, she was not feeling well and had a fever.

The child, Munir said, had cigarette burns on her chest and as subjected to tortute and sexual abuse.

Sexual crimes against girl child have grown alarmingly in Pakistan in recent times and have led to changes in laws and severe punishment for offenders.

In January 2018, the kidnapping, rape and murder of a six-year old girl in Punjab's Kasur city had caused widespread outrage and eventually Pakistan government hanged the culprit, Imran Ali, who was arrested after the child's body was found in a garbage dump.

Ali was executed in Lahore's Kot Lakhpat prison for similar crimes against six other girls in Kasur and the Parliament in 2020 passed a new law to take swift action against child abusers.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)