ISLAMABAD: The Special Anti-Rape Court in Islamabad has sentenced accused Iftikhar Ahmed Khan to death for raping his stepdaughter and impregnating her.
The case was registered against accused Iftikhar Ahmed Khan under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code at Shahzad Town Police Station, Islamabad, on February 5, 2025, on the complaint of the victim girl’s mother.
Additional District and Sessions Judge-I and Judge of Special Anti-Rape Court, East Islamabad, Muhammad Sohail, while delivering the verdict, ruled that the testimony of the victim girl, medical evidence, and DNA report against the accused are sufficient to prove the crime.
According to the court decision, the victim’s mother had stated in the FIR registered in February 2025 against her husband that her husband had been raping her daughter for about a year. The last such incident happened on February 1, 2025, after which the victim girl was taken to the hospital due to severe pain, where it was revealed that she was about 5 months pregnant.
It has been noted in the judgment that during the trial, in the supplementary DNA report of the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA), accused Iftikhar Ahmed Khan was declared the biological father of the newborn child.
The report recorded the probability ratio of the accused being the father as 99.99 percent and the Combined Paternity Index as 277,507,014. According to the verdict, the victim girl gave birth to a son on July 2, 2025, at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS), Islamabad.
The court said in the judgment that the testimony of the victim girl remained intact on basic points, and the DNA report supported it. According to the court, the victim girl stated that she could not inform her mother and siblings about the matter due to fear. The verdict also said that the absence of marks of violence on the body does not necessarily prove the allegation of rape to be false, especially in a case where the accused is the head of the household and the father of the victim girl.
The court also rejected the accused’s claim of being implicated in a false case. The accused had denied the charge while the prosecution produced 11 witnesses in the case.
According to court records, samples were obtained from the body during the medical examination of the victim girl. In the first forensic report of February 28, 2025, no traces of semen were found on these samples. However, later samples of the newborn baby were taken, and DNA analysis was done; the supplementary report of which was released on January 2, 2026.
The court ruled that non-discovery of semen traces in the first report does not eliminate the importance of DNA evidence that came to light later.
The court sentenced the accused to death under Section 376(1) of the Pakistan Penal Code, which will require confirmation by the Islamabad High Court. According to the verdict, the accused will have to pay a fine of Rs 500,000. In case of non-payment, he will have to undergo an additional 6 months’ imprisonment.
The court also ordered payment of compensation of Rs 1 million to the victim girl and Rs 2 million to her son born from the assault. The amount earmarked for the child will be deposited in Defence Savings Certificates through his legal guardian, which will be payable when the child becomes an adult; however, in the best interest of the child, the guardian can seek permission from the concerned court to use the money.
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