LAHORE - A man on Wednesday was awarded 60-year imprisonment as cumulative sentence after he was found guilty of throwing acid on his 21-year old ex-fiancée.

Anti-Terrorism Court-I Judge Sajjad Ahmad announced the verdict after the prosecution proved its case. The court also imposed fine of Rs 3.9 million on Asmatullah, the convict. The court awarded him two-time 25-year imprisonment under Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, and sections 324 and 336/B of Pakistan Penal Code.

Beenish Sharif, the victim, lost her eyes after the convict threw acid on her body when she was going home along with her father Muhammad Sharif in the precinct of Defence-A police.  The convict was at large and was hiding somewhere in Bhakkar from where the police arrested him.

Advocate Gull Hassan Abbas who represented the victim told The Nation that Asmatullah and Beenish had been engaged a couple of years ago. When the girl’s family came to know that he was not a man of good character, they refused to marry their daughter to him.

Abbas said Asmat hailing from Bhakkar was working in a store in Defence and did not own a house in Lahore. The girl’s family asked him to buy a house first. Saying that he had no money, he borrowed Rs 500,000 from the victim’s family to buy a house.

The lawyer said the convict did not buy any house; rather he deceived the family. On this fraud, he said, the family broke the engagement, which angered the convict to commit the said crime.