BAHAWALPUR: Lodhran Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Muhammad Ayyaz handed down a 14-year jail term with a fine to a man, who attempted to rape a boy in Basti Gailiwal in the city police station limits.
According to the prosecution, on May 5, 2024, 11-year-old, ‘A’, was going to a shop to send a sum of Rs15,000 through electronic transaction platform, when Kausar Abbas forcibly took him to the rooftop of a nearby mosque. The convict snatched the amount, attempted to rape the boy and subjected him to torture when he cried.
Meanwhile, on hearing the boy’s screams, the mosque prayer-leader and other locals rushed to the rooftop. On seeing them, the convict, along with his unidentified accomplices, managed to flee on a motorcycle.
On the complaint lodged by the boy’s uncle, Sarfraz Ali, Lodhran city police registered a case under sections 3676, 377-B and 511 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against Abbas and submitted the challan in the court.
The court awarded 14-year rigorous imprisonment (RI), along with a Rs1.2 million fine to the convicts. In case of defaulting on fine payment, the convict will have to undergo a further six-month imprisonment, the court ordered.
An elderly man died of fire in his bed and suffocation in the bathroom of his house at village 110/ EB in the limits of police station Sheikh Fazail in tehsil Burewala of Vehari district during night time on Thursday.
According to Rescue 1122, Khalid Hussain was alone in his room and was smoking before going to bed. As he was asleep, his bed caught fire because of a cigarette butt that had been left smouldering.
When he abruptly woke up, he rushed to the bathroom attached to the room to escape the fire, but was suffocated because of the smoke and died.
His family came to know about his death on Thursday morning and shifted his body to Burewala THQ Hospital.
Published in Dawn, November 21st, 2025.