Entertainment
Karachi man sentenced to 10 years for raping daughter
- Court finds prosecution proved rape charge beyond doubt.
- Victim’s testimony termed credible, natural and unbiased.
- Sentence includes fine, victim compensation under APA.
KARACHI: An additional district and sessions judge in Karachi sentenced a man to 10 years’ rigorous imprisonment after convicting him of raping his 18-year-old daughter in the Korangi Industrial Area.
Additional District and Sessions Judge (East), Naseer Noor Khan, in a judgment dated December 22, dismissed the accused’s claim that the case was fabricated to usurp his property, stating such a motive was “unreasonable and unbelievable.”
“It cannot be accepted that a mother… would think to involve her real daughter for falsely implicating her husband just to usurp his property.” The defence witnesses — Irfan’s father and uncle — were found to be interested parties whose testimonies did not substantiate the property-grab claim.
The court found Muhammad Irfan guilty under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The conviction stems from the rape of his 18-year-old daughter in September 2023 at their home in Nasir Colony, Korangi.
In addition to the prison term, Irfan was fined Rs100,000. If unpaid, he will face an additional six months of simple imprisonment. The judge ordered that any fine paid be given to the victim as compensation under the Anti-Rape (Investigation & Trial) Act, 2021.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) and court records, the incident occurred around 3am in September 2023. The victim testified that after using a washroom on the ground floor, her father pulled her into a room, locked it, forcibly silenced her, and raped her. He subsequently threatened to kill her and divorce her mother if she disclosed the crime.
The victim initially confided in her aunt, who later informed the victim’s mother, Shahnaz Kanwal. The mother lodged the FIR at the Korangi Industrial Area police station on December 28, 2023.
In his detailed 13-page judgment, Judge Khan noted that the prosecution had proved its case “beyond the shadow of any reasonable doubt.” The court found the victim’s evidence to be “natural, independent, unbiased and straightforward.”
The judge cited Supreme Court rulings stating that in sexual offence cases, the victim’s sole testimony can be sufficient for conviction if it inspires confidence.
The victim’s statement was backed by her recorded statement under Section 164 of the Criminal Procedure Code before a judicial magistrate, the testimony of her mother, and medical evidence.
The judge further observed that failure on the part of investigators to collect vital evidence could not benefit the accused when the commission of the offence had been established through testimony and available material on record.
The judgment has been forwarded to the Sindh High Court for review, as mandated by the Anti-Rape Act. The accused has 30 days to file an appeal.
The accused was taken into custody following the announcement of the verdict, while the court directed that the sentence be carried out in accordance with the law.
- Murtaza Wahab says dog bite cases rising in Karachi.
- Majority supports immediate culling campaign: mayor.
- Mayor opposes neutering as slow solution for issue.
Karachi Mayor Barrister Murtaza Wahab on Wednesday called for culling stray dogs, opposing neutering as a slow solution, as authorities and hospitals reported a sharp rise in dog bite cases.
His comments come as data showed over 800 dog bite cases in Karachi during the first five days of 2026.
Speaking to reporters, the Karachi mayor said that immediate action to curb rising cases required killing stray dogs.
“Neutering would take time. Dog bite cases are increasing in the city,” he said, adding that a small group opposed to culling repeatedly approached courts to obtain stay orders.
The Karachi mayor noted that the majority supported immediate action and called for a final, decisive resolution.
Officials have said that around 850 cases were reported in Karachi during the first five days of the year alone, with Indus Hospital and Civil Hospital reporting 300 cases each, while Jinnah Hospital logged over 250 cases.
Dr Aftab Gohar, in charge of the dog bite clinic at Indus Hospital, said a 41-year-old man had to have a finger amputated due to severe tissue damage and disrupted blood flow due to a dog bite.
He added that most cases were reported from Korangi, Hub Chowki, Baldia Town, Landhi and Gadap Town.
Dr Gohar said that all patients were given anti-rabies vaccines at the Indus Hospital.
However, he said that rabies is almost always fatal once its symptoms appear in the affected individual.
The issue has also drawn political criticism as Jamaat-e-Islami Karachi Emir Munim Zafar assailed the Karachi mayor over dog bites, and deaths from open manholes and sewage in the city.
He said that Muttahida Qaumi Movement had also contributed to Karachi’s decline over decades, alleging the party of playing from “both sides of the wicket”.
Last month, a boy from Jacobabad died of rabies at the Indus Hospital after being bitten by a stray dog two months earlier.
The death, reported on December 24, 2025, brought the number of rabies-related fatalities in Sindh last year to more than 21.
The Simpsons seems to have revealed the first sad news of 2026, which is the retirement of one of its beloved characters, Barry Duffman.
Duffman had been a part of the show for nearly thirty years, and his absence will surely be felt in the seasons to follow, after he bid farewell in a Severance-themed episode on Sunday, January 4.
In the parodic episode, Seperance, the Duff Beer spokesperson, revealed that his role as the company mascot has now come to an end, saying, “The Duff Corporation has retired that character forever. All the old forms of advertising are now passé. Corporate spokesmen, print ads, TV spots. Today’s kids can’t even sing the jingles.”
The viewers got a glimpse of the character later in the episode, albeit without his iconic uniform, which really hammered in the retirement.
The character made his first appearance in an episode back in 1997, titled “The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson,” and quickly became a staple on the show.
Not more than two months before Barry Duffman’s retirement, the show discontinued another beloved character, First Church Organist Alice Glick, who had been a part of the show for over 34 years.
Entertainment
Brigitte Bardot’s funeral held in France, with hundreds coming out to honor the 1960s silver screen siren
Paris — Brigitte Bardot’s funeral was being held on Wednesday with a private service and a public homage in Saint-Tropez, the French Riviera resort where she lived for more than half a century after retiring from movie stardom at the height of her fame.
The animal rights activist and far-right supporter died on Dec. 28 at the age of 91 at her home in southern France.
President Emmanuel Macron said after her death that France was “mourning a legend.”
She died from cancer after undergoing two operations, her husband, Bernard d’Ormale, said in an interview with Paris Match magazine released Tuesday evening. “She was conscious and concerned about the fate of animals until the very end,” he said.
Arnold Jerocki/Getty
Residents and admirers applauded the funeral convoy as the coffin of Bardot, once one of the world’s most photographed women and a defining screen siren of the 1960s, was being carried through the town’s narrow streets.
A service started to the sound of Maria Callas’ “Ave Maria” at the Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption Catholic Church in the presence of Bardot’s husband, son and grandchildren, as well as guests invited by the family and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals.
Hundreds of people gathered in the small town to follow the farewell on large screens set up at the port and on two plazas.
After the church service, Bardot is to be buried “in the strictest privacy” at a cemetery overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, according to the Saint-Tropez town hall.
She had long called Saint-Tropez her refuge from the celebrity that once made her a household name.
Arnold Jerocki/Getty 
A public homage will take place at a nearby site for admirers of the woman whose image once symbolized France’s postwar liberation and sensuality.
“Brigitte Bardot will forever be associated with Saint-Tropez, of which she was the most dazzling ambassador,” the town hall said last week. “Through her presence, personality and aura, she marked the history of our town.”
Bardot settled decades ago in her seaside villa, La Madrague, and retired from filmmaking in 1973 at age 39, during an international career that spanned more than two dozen films.
AP 
She later emerged as an animal rights activist, founding and sustaining a foundation devoted to the protection of animals.
“Man is an insatiable predator,” Bardot told The Associated Press on her 73rd birthday, in 2007. “I don’t care about my past glory. That means nothing in the face of an animal that suffers, since it has no power, no words to defend itself.”
Her activism earned her compatriots’ respect and, in 1985, she was awarded the Legion of Honor, the nation’s highest recognition.
While she withdrew from the film industry, she remained a highly visible and often controversial public figure through decades of militant animal rights activism and links with far-right politics.
Duclos/AP 
She will be buried in the so-called marine cemetery, where her parents are also interred.
The cemetery, overlooking the Mediterranean sea, is also the final resting place of several cultural figures, including filmmaker Roger Vadim, Bardot’s first husband, who directed her breakout film “And God Created Woman,” a role that made her a worldwide star.
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