Pakistan’s Lahore High Court has given a big verdict in one of the most talked about gangrape cases of the country. The court has upheld the death sentence of two convicts who gang-raped a French-origin woman in front of her three children. On Wednesday, the court rejected the appeals of Abid Ali and Shafqat Ali. Both of them had challenged the death sentence awarded by the Anti-Terrorism Court in 2021.
This incident occurred on 9 September 2020, when a French woman of Pakistani origin was traveling with her three children on the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway. According to reports, their car ran out of fuel during the late night journey, leaving the family stranded on the roadside. According to investigators, the woman was sitting inside the car with the doors closed while waiting for help. It is alleged that the attackers broke the glass of the car, dragged the woman outside and gang-raped her at gunpoint in front of her children.
Absconded after looting cash, jewellery, bank cards from the family
The attackers fled after looting cash, jewelery and bank cards from the family. The search for the attackers was completed within a few days. The investigating agencies accessed the suspects through mobile phone data and later linked the accused to the crime on the basis of DNA evidence recovered from the crime scene. Investigators said the victim had identified both the accused during the legal process. One of the convicts, Shafqat Ali, had also reportedly confessed to his crime before the magistrate.
‘Why was the woman traveling at night?
On the basis of this evidence, in March 2021, an anti-terrorism court had convicted both the accused and sentenced them to death. Apart from this, he was also given life imprisonment and other jail sentences. After this heinous crime, widespread protests and huge public anger were witnessed across the country. People’s anger increased further when the then Lahore Police Chief Omar Sheikh raised the question as to why the woman was traveling at night and that she should have taken another route. His statement was widely criticized.