ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday dismissed an appeal filed by one Zulfiqar Khan, a convict in the kidnapping, rape and murder of 11-year-old Areeb Ejaz, and upheld his life imprisonment sentence.
During the hearing, Justice Malik Shahzad Khan described the case as a “chilling incident”, noting that the victim was brutally murdered without any apparent enmity. The court also observed that sexual assault had been established through medical evidence.
The bench highlighted that the prosecution had presented strong evidence against the convict, including CCTV footage and DNA forensic reports. The victim’s body was recovered from an under-construction site, bearing multiple torture marks.
The court drew a parallel with the high-profile Zainab murder case, where the accused was similarly identified through CCTV evidence.
The case against Zulfiqar Khan was registered in 2020 in Rawalpindi. After reviewing the evidence and arguments, the Supreme Court ruled the appeal to be without merit and dismissed it, maintaining the life sentence.
