KOHAT: A child protection court on Tuesday awarded death sentence to three persons with a cumulative fine of Rs3.2 million for murdering a boy after assaultin2020.

Judge Farzana Tabbassum awarded death penalties to Sharif Khan, Younis and Farjeed.

The accused had also pulled out the boy`s eyeballs and also cut his sensitive body parts, the postmortem report had revealed. The judge also awarded Junaid Iqbal, another accused, three years imprisonment and a fine of Rs20,000.

SP investigations Jameelur Rehman told Dawn that MohammadZubair had filed a report of disappearance of his 12-year-old son, Shahzeb, on June 11, 2020, in Jarma police station.

However, he said the police found the mutilated body of a boy in the forests of Kamardhand the same day. He said Zubair was called, who identified the body asthat ofhis son,Shahzeb.

Afterward, he said Mr Zubair told the investigation team that he suspected Junaid Iqbal of Kamardhand, who was his son`s friend, for murdering Shahzeb. SP Rehman said Iqbal was picked on June 16, 2020.

He said during interrogations, Iqbal disclosed that Shahzeb was his friendand they took cattle for grazing together. He said he and other five accused planned to kill Shahzeb after having a fight with him. Afterwards, he said they took Shahzeb to the house of one of the killers, Younis, where they assaulted him.

Then, he said they took him to a forest and hanged him.

SP Rehman said the police had also reached the other culprits, Sharif Khan, Younis and Farjeed.

He said two other persons, Azeem Khan and the namesake of the deceased, Shahzeb, had been at large and declared proclaimed offenders by the court. Correspondent