Court overturns death penalty in gang rape-murder case

RAWALPINDI:

A Division Bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday annulled the death sentences and Rs500,000 fines imposed on three accused in a case involving gang rape and brutal murder of a woman in the jurisdiction of Taxila police.

The bench, comprising Justice Sadiq Mehmood Khurram and Justice Sultan Tanveer Ahmed, also acquitted the three suspects and ordered their release from jail.

During the hearing, Barristers Osama Ameen Qazi and Sohail Abbas, representing the accused, argued that Muhammad Jameel had accused three individuals – Nisar Khan, Umar Shehzad, and Naeem Sajad – of gang raping his 44-year-old wife, Robina Shaheen, on September 14, 2020, in the Badhana Khurd area of Taxila. Jameel further claimed that his wife was murdered after the assault.

The lower court, led by the Additional Sessions Judge in Taxila, sentenced all three accused to death and imposed a fine of Rs500,000 each. However, the LHC's Rawalpindi bench found that the post-mortem report and the weapon used for the murder did not support the allegations.

Consequently, the court quashed the death sentences, acquitted the three men, and ordered their immediate release from jail.