GUJRAT: Gujrat Additional District and Sessions Judge (ADSJ) Javed Akram Baitu awarded a 7-year jail term, and a Rs100,000 fine, to a woman accused of kidnapping and a newborn girl who later died, besides ordering payment of Rs8.1 million as Diyat to her parents.
The Civil Lines police had registered a kidnapping case on the complaint of the newborn’s father, Shahbaz Ahmed, on July 9, 2024, following his daughter going missing from hospital after being shifted to the ward.
The police later traced and arrested a suspect, Shazia Bibi of Okara, who was temporarily residing in Warpal Chatha village near Wazirabad town.
The woman confessed to have kidnapped the baby girl for not being able to give birth despite the passage of several years since her marriage.
However, the kidnapped baby girl later died in a Gujranwala hospital and the woman buried her in a graveyard at Warpal Chatha village. On her identification, the police exhumed the body for autopsy.
The judge also ordered the convict to pay Rs8.1 million in Diyat to the parents of the deceased baby girl. In case of non-payment, the convict will not be released from jail even after completing the term, the court ordered.
In a 20-page judgment, the court also converted section 302 into 322 of the Pakistan Penal Code and remarked that the convict did not want to kill the baby girl intentionally.
Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2025.
