ISLAMABAD, Aug 28: The government is preparing a draft law to ban the selling of prize bond numbers and those violating it will be awarded seven-year imprisonment.

Official sources told Dawn on Thursday that the federal ministry for law and justice was drafting the law which would be placed before the National Assembly during its current session.

A new section, 489 (G) would be included in the Pakistan Penal Code to ban the selling of prize bond numbers as citizens were being cheated by unscrupulous elements.

The ministry is also preparing a draft to amend section 10 of Hadood Ordinance, relating to gang rape.

Earlier, the law emphasized only death sentence for the people guilty of gang rape. But the government wanted to provide alternative punishment as the courts were finding it difficult with only one punishment available on the statute.