Sodomy case: Zulfiqar Khan given 21-year jail term

Sandeep Rana

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, January 3

Theatre Age NGO Director Zulfiqar Khan has been awarded total 21-years jail term in three sodomy cases i.e. seven years in each case by a local court here.

Thus, his counsel has moved an application in court requesting that seven years jail term in three separate sodomy cases be made concurrent as per law. It has been contended in the application it was a single FIR and all cases were decided at one time. Also, it has been pleaded he was acquitted under Sections 5 and 14 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act as it turned out that the victims were not minor.

It was further said in such cases generally sentences go concurrent and not otherwise. The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge JS Sidhu on December 23 sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment under Sections 377 (unnatural sex) and one year rigorous imprisonment under Section 293 (whoever sells, lets to hire, distributes, exhibits or circulates obscene objects to any young person) of the IPC in each three cases with total Rs 31,000 fine. The court will decide its decision on the application on January 7.

Five separate cases of sodomy were registered against him. He was convicted in three of them while was acquitted in other two as in the latter cases the victims had turned hostile in the court.

Zulfiqar was arrested last year from his school in Sector 25, where he used to teach the underprivileged children, based on the complaint by two boys that Zulfiqar forced them to have unnatural sex. After the complaint, the police received more complaints with similar allegations. The police had also seized sedatives and CDs of porn movies from his school which was searched and videographed.

“…the convict has made a number of children his victim. He was the teacher of the children who became victim in the hands of the convict. It spoiled the pious relationship of a student and teacher. A teacher has a dominating position over his students and that position has been misused by the convict…,” the Judge observed in the order.