LHC upholds death penalty in Motorway rape case

The Lahore High Court has dismissed appeals filed by two men against their convictions in the 2020 Sialkot-Lahore Motorway gang rape case, upholding the punishment awarded by a trial court.

An anti-terrorism court had handed down death sentences, besides life imprisonment and multiple jail terms to the two convicts, Abid Ali alias Malhi and Shafqat Ali alias Bagga, on March 20, 2021. They challenged their convictions on March 25, 2021.

A two-member LHC bench headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi on Wednesday announced the reserved verdict on the appeals.

The court upheld the death sentences awarded to both convicts for the rape offence.

The convicts challenged the anti-terrorism court's verdict before the Lahore High Court on March 25, 2021, seeking the reversal of their convictions and sentences.

After hearing the appeals, the Lahore High Court dismissed the petitions and maintained the death sentences handed down by the trial court.

Malhi and Ali unleashed their attack on September 9, 2020, after the woman and her children became stranded on the motorway leading out of Lahore after running out of fuel.

She had locked the car doors while she waited for help, but the attackers broke a window and dragged her outside, where they raped her at gunpoint in front of her terrified children.

The men also stole money, jewellery, and bank cards before fleeing.

Police said the woman was left traumatised, but she was able to provide them with some basic descriptions of her attackers.

American entrepreneur, investor, and the wealthiest person in the world Elon Reeve Musk hailed the ruling. "This is the right sentence for such an action. Good for Pakistan," he wrote on X.