Rawalpindi-Paedophile serial child rapist Sohail Ayaz was sentenced to death by a court of law on Wednesday for kidnapping, drugging and sodomizing minor children and sharing their nude videos on dark web.
He was also given rigorous life imprisonment along with fine of Rs1.5 million. The judge also ordered the paedophile to pay Rs0.5 million as compensation to a victim child.
The court has also awarded imprisonment for 7 years to Khurram Tahir alias Kala, the crime partner of serial child rapist Sohail Ayaz, besides imposing fine of Rs100,000. In case of non-payment of fine, the accused will have to spend six more months in the jail.
Rawat police registered a case number 694/19 dated 14/11/2019 under sections 367-A/377/337J/363/292-C of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against Sohail Ayaz on complaint of Karim Khan, a resident of Khanna Dak, who accused him of kidnapping and sodomizing his 11-year-old nephew.
Crime of Sohail Ayaz ignited protests demanding swift justice and public execution of the paedophile.
According to details, the Additional and Sessions Judge (ASJ) Jehangir Ali Gondal took up Sohail Ayaz child sodomy case during which the prosecution argued the perpetrator had committed heinous offence by kidnapping, sodomising scores of underage children and filming the sinful acts on mobile phones and sharing on dark web.
He said the accused took Zeeshan Faraz (14) to his house and drugged him with ice and sodomised him later.
The prosecution added that police have recovered the child from captivity of the sex predator from his den located in a private housing society.
“The investigators had brought the child to hospital where doctors declared that the child was sodomised. Meanwhile, Punjab Forensic Lab also issued a detail report of DNA test that matched with the samples of criminal,” the prosecutor said. He added the accused is operating a well-organised gang in Pakistan and had also been convicted by a court in the UK in child abuse case.
The prosecutor pleaded the court to award death sentence to the accused. Opposing the arguments of prosecution, the defense lawyer told court that his client is innocent and had nothing to do with the crime. Therefore, all the charges against him should be dropped by the honourable court, he argued. After completion of arguments of both parties, ASJ Jehangir Ali Gondal awarded death sentence to serial child rapist Sohail Ayaz along with rigorous life imprisonment and fine of Rs1,500,000. The court ordered the accused to pay Rs500,000 compensation to the victim child. The compensation shall be recoverable as arrears of land revenue. In case of default, the convict shall undergo simple imprisonment for six months.
“Sohail Ayaz was convicted in 2009 in the UK in child abuse case. He has committed sodomy with many children which is evident from his conduct expressed in the form of messages which he sent to his friends or received from friends. Sohail Ayaz has committed offence against society,” the judge remarked.
ASJ also awarded sever-year rigorous imprisonment to Khurram Tahir aka Kala, the co-accused of Sohail Ayaz, besides imposing fine of Rs100,000. “In case of default in payment of fine, the accused shall suffer simple imprisonment for six months,” the judge observed.
It may be noted that a police team of Rawat, under supervision of the then SP Saddar Division Rai Mazhar, carried out a raid on a house located in a private housing society in 2019 on complaint of a citizen that his nephew was kidnapped by an unknown person.
Police arrested Sohail Ayaz besides recovering the abductee from his detention. Later on, police also seized laptops, mobile phones and other stuff from the flat of Sohail Ayaz. It was revealed during investigation that Sohail Ayaz is an active member of international dark web and involved in sodomising minor children and recording the sin on mobile phones and cameras.
After flashing news of arrest of Sohail Ayaz on media, dozens of parents approached Rawat police and the then CPO Rawalpindi while lodging complaints against the accused.
SP Saddar Division Zia Uddin Ahmed and his team continued grilling the paedophile under supervision of SSP Investigation Muhammad Faisal Kamran and City Police Officer Muhammad Ahsan Younas and finally got him convicted from court of law.
A senior police officer disclosed to The Nation that Sohail Ayaz shared with the investigators that he opted to abuse children because he himself was assaulted sexually at the age of eight years by one of his neighbours.