Motorway Incident: ATC hands down death sentences to gang-rape culprits

Motorway Incident!!

An anti-terrorism court handed down death sentences to Lahore-Sialkot Motorway gang-rape culprits Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali on Saturday.

The verdict was announced by ATC judge Arshad Hussain Bhatta at Lahore’s Camp Jail where the two accused have been imprisoned.

The accused were also fined Rs50,000 each.

The judgment was announced in the presence of the local magistrate, police officials, the petitioner, and the culprits.

As many as 50 witnesses appeared before the court to record their statements in the case. Including the survivor, the complainant of the FIR, and the person who reported the incident on the police emergency helpline.

The culprits will be transferred from Camp Jail to Kot Lakhpat Jail, where the sentence will be carried out.

The Defence counsel Qasim Arain and Sher Gull Qureshi contended that the accused were not granted the right to a fair trial. They stated that the accused were forced to confess the crime.

However, the prosecution maintained that the accused were arrested after their DNA was matched. He demanded punishment for the accused as per law.

The ATC had concluded trial proceedings in the case on Thursday after the defense completed its arguments.

ATC Judge Arshad Hussain Bhutta reserved the verdict on March 18.

The Lahore Motorway gang rape incident had the whole of Pakistan in shock.

The accused in the case had sexually assaulted a Pakistan-origin French woman in front of her children last year, while her car had developed a fault on the Lahore-Sialkot motorway on September 9, 2020.