LHC upholds death sentences of motorway gang-rape convicts

Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed the appeals filed by convicted offenders Abid Malhi and Shafqat Baga in the high-profile motorway gang-rape case.

A two-member bench headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi upheld the death sentences awarded to both convicts.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had sentenced the offenders to death on March 20, 2021. Subsequently, the convicts challenged the ATC verdict before the Lahore High Court on March 25, 2021.

Gujjarpura police had lodged the FIR on Sept 9, 2020 under sections 365-A, 392, 376 (ii), 427, 201,34, 337-L2, 337-F1 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

After hearing the appeals, the two-member bench rejected the pleas and maintained the death penalties handed down by the trial court.

The verdict marks a significant development in one of Pakistan’s most widely publicized criminal cases, which sparked nationwide outrage and calls for stronger measures against sexual violence.

Background

The convicts had sexually assaulted the survivor, a Pakistan origin French woman, in front of her three minor children after dragging her out of her car that stopped during the late night travel on the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway after fuel ran out.

The police had recovered a pistol and a club, used in the crime, from the custody of the convicts besides recovery of their mobile phones.

The police had traced them with the help of their DNA samples that matched with the blood stains found at the crime scene.