LAHORE: A Lahore High Court (LHC) division bench on Wednesday dismissed appeals filed by the two men convicted in the 2020 Sialkot-Lahore Motorway gang rape case against their sentences.

An anti-terrorism court had handed down death sentences besides life imprisonment and multiple jail terms to the two convicts, Abid Ali alias Malhi and Shafqat Ali alias Bagga, on March 20, 2021. They challenged their convictions on March 25, 2021.

The appeals contended that several infirmities created doubts about the prosecution’s version of the events and the trial court’s judgement was harsh and against the settled principles of law.

A two-judge bench, comprising Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Tariq Mehmood Bajwa, issued the verdict on their appeals on Tuesday after the prosecution concluded its arguments.

In his final arguments, the state prosecutor contended that the prosecution had overwhelming evidence against the convicts and requested the court to uphold their sentences. He said there was no flaw in the trial court’s decision. The defence lawyers had completed their arguments before the prosecution’s final arguments.

Motorway gang rape

The country seethed with anger in September 2020 as details had emerged of the gang rape on the outskirts of Lahore, with remarks by the then-city police chief implying that the rape survivor shared responsibility for her rape.

The convicts had gang-raped a French woman of Pakistan-origin in front of her three children after dragging her out of her car that ran short of fuel and stopped during her late night travel on Sialkot-Lahore Motorway.

The Gujjarpura police registered a first information report (FIR) of the incident on Sept 9, 2020, under multiple sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

Verdict reserved: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday reserved its verdict on the maintainability of a petition challenging collection of capacity charges on unused electricity generation.

Justice Ahmad Nadeem Arshad heard the petition filed by a woman, Ashba Kamran.

During the hearing, an assistant attorney general opposed the petition and questioned its maintainability before the court.

The petitioner in person contended that the government, under the Constitution, cannot impose any tax without the approval of the parliament.

She alleged that the government violated the Constitution by imposing an unlawful levy in the form of capacity charges.

The petitioner argued that the government introduced the capacity charges merely on the recommendations of the federal cabinet and the National Electric Power Regulatory Authority (Nepra) without any legal mechanism or parliamentary approval.

She further submitted that payments to local investors, linked to the US dollar exchange rate and made from the national grid, were unconstitutional.

She argued that power companies were being paid trillions of rupees despite not generating electricity or operating their plants, which amounted to an injustice to the public.

She claimed that Rs18.10 trillion had been paid to the Independent Power Producers (IPPs) for unused electricity generation capacity and to plants that remained non-operational.

She asked the court to order the government that payments should be made only against the actual electricity supplied to the system.

The petitioner also sought directions for the government to recover trillions of rupees paid in excess to the IPPs and to hold officials involved in the process accountable.

After hearing the arguments, the judge reserved a verdict on the maintainability of the petition.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2026