An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in the Punjab capital on Saturday sentenced both men linked to the Lahore Motorway rape case to death.
ATC Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta announced the death sentence for convicts Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali after it was proved in the court that they gang-raped a woman who was travelling from Lahore to Gujranwala by Lahore-Sialkot Motorway around midnight in September 2020. The death sentence for Abid and Shafqat is subject to approval from the Lahore High Court (LHC).
The ATC judge also sentenced the two men to life imprisonment after it was proved in the court that they had kidnapped the woman and her children before her rape. The court ordered forfeiture of the properties of the culprits, 14-year jail term for each criminal and imposed a Rs200,000 each fine on them.
موٹروے زیادتی کیس کے دونوں مجرمان کو سزائے موت ایک بہترین فیصلہ ہے۔ ایسے گھناؤنے جرم کے مرتکب افراد کو کیفر کردار تک پہنچانا بہت ضروری ہے تاکہ دیگر لوگ اس سے عبرت حاصل کریں۔ اسی میں معاشرے کی فلاح ہے۔
— Abdul Aleem Khan (@aleemkhan_pti) March 20, 2021
Also, the court sentenced the culprits to five years in jail after it was proved that they tried to kill the rape victim during the encounter. The judge imposed a Rs100,000 each fine on the convicts for injuring the rape victim during the crime.
The ATC had reserved the verdict in this case a few days ago. Due to security reasons, the rape case was heard inside Lahore’s Camp Jail.
The woman had run out of fuel on the motorway when she was leaving Lahore that fateful night at around 3am. Her two children were also with her at that time.
