Court confirms the death sentences imposed on both those convicted of the crime of rape by the ATC in 2021
LAHORE:
The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Wednesday dismissed appeals filed by convicts Abid Malhi and Shafqat Bagga against their convictions and death sentences in the motorway gang rape case, upholding the sentence awarded by the trial court.
A two-member bench headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi announced the reserved verdict on the appeals. The court confirmed the death sentences imposed on both men convicted of the crime of rape.
An anti-terrorism court sentenced Abid Malhi and Shafqat Bagga to death on March 20, 2021, after finding them guilty in the notorious highway gang rape case. On September 9, 2020, convicts Malhi and Shafqat raped a woman at gunpoint in Gujjarpura area while she was waiting for help on the highway after her car ran out of fuel.
The woman was traveling with her children when her car stopped in Gujjarpura due to running out of fuel. He called his relative and sent him his location on the highway. When the relative arrived at the scene, he saw the woman in a panic and with blood stains on her clothes. The windows of his vehicle were also broken.
The woman told police she was waiting for her relative to pick her and her children up when two armed men attacked her. One of them hit the car with batons and the other held them hostage at gunpoint.
Read: Zero convictions as Faisalabad records 97 gang rape cases in 2025
The attackers then took her and the children to a nearby wooded area where they gang-raped the woman. Later, they robbed her of valuables, including Rs 100,000 in cash, two gold jewellery, a bracelet, a car registration card and three ATM cards, and left her stranded.
The convicts subsequently challenged the verdict of the Anti-Terrorism Court before the LHC on March 25, 2021, requesting the revocation of their convictions and sentences. After hearing the appeals, the LHC dismissed the petitions and upheld the death sentences handed down by the trial court.
The horrific incident shook the collective conscience of the entire nation, sparking nationwide outrage and raising questions about the deceptive nature of a society where pure savagery lurks behind the veil of piety and morality and where no place seems safe anymore.
The heinous incident also sparked a debate in traditional and social media on the behavioral trends and alarming rise in cases of sexual violence in the country as well as the inability of the law enforcement mechanism to provide safety to citizens as even driving on a highway can be dangerous.
