An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Lahore has awarded death sentence to prime accused and co-accused – Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali – in the motorway gang-rape case that sparked a countrywide outrage last year. On September 9, 2020, prime accused raped a woman at gunpoint in Gujjarpura area while she was waiting for help on the motorway after her car ran out of fuel.
Father of the prime suspect in motorway gang-rape case, Akbar Ali has claimed that his son woke up the police sleeping on a nearby roof and turned himself in. His father states, Abid did it to end the harassment of the women in his family. IGP Inam Ghani, denied the claims, claiming that that certain family members were released as bait to catch Abid.
Pakistani women look for pepper sprays and pocketknives for their own defense as police fails to catch main accused in motorway gang rape case. Daraz PK, one of the country’s top online stores, was out of stock of self-defense items this week. Aisha Raza, representative of Shop USA, said that demand for pepper spray had increased by 70 percent during the past week.
A third accomplice of two prime suspects in motorway gang rape case has been detained, while key suspect Abid Ali remains at large. Police said a man named Bala Mistri, identified by the arrested suspect Shafqat Ali as the third person, has been taken into custody. Bala Mistri has been involved in various crimes alongside Abid in the past.
In a recent interview, Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that rapists should be hanged publicly or chemically castrated. In response to a question about the motorway gang-rape case, the premier commented that sexual offenders should be handed down the most severe punishments to curb rising sexual violence in the country. Prime Minister Imran said the motorway rape had “shaken the entire nation”.