12 November 2004	Friday	28 Ramazan 1425

LAHORE, Nov 11: The Federal Shariat Court on Thursday took strong exception to the delay of more than eight years in the decision of an appeal against the acquittal of two persons charged with committing gang-rape.

The appeal was filed with the Shariat court by Atia Bibi, a resident of Miana Gonddal police station precinct in Mandi Bahauddin, against the decision of an additional district and sessions judge. The AD&SJ, on June 26, 1996, acquitted Muhammad Aslam and Allah Bakhsh of gang-raping her.

The commission of offence took place in 1994 and the AD&SJ took two years in deciding the case. Atia Bibi filed an appeal against the subordinate court's decision, which remained under process for eight years.

The FSC, which has now sentenced the two accused to 10-year imprisonment for rape and trespassing, directed assistant advocate-general Raja Abdur Rehman to assist the court in fixing the responsibility of the delay in deciding the appeal.

The Punjab government's law officer submitted in court that gang-rape was a grave crime, which now carried death penalty after section 10 of the Enforcement of Hudood Ordinance was amended in 1997 with the insertion of sub-section 4, and making the offence more heinous than before.

Meanwhile, the new roster for the court on Thursday showed that it would hear cases in appeal and bail matters for another two days in the next working week. The FSC on Thursday heard 16 such cases.