LAHORE: A Lahore High Court division bench on Tuesday sought arguments from the prosecution on appeals by two convicts in the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway gang rape case against their death sentences.

The bench comprising Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Tariq Mehmood Bajwa heard the appeals.

The defence lawyers concluded their arguments and a prosecutor sought time to present his arguments.

The bench allowed the request and adjourned the hearing for Wednesday (today).

Convicts Abid Malhi and Shafqat Bagga had challenged their death sentences through jail appeals.

An anti-terrorism court had on March 20, 2021 awarded death sentences to both besides life imprisonment and multiple jail terms.

Gujjarpura police had lodged the FIR on Sept 9, 2020 under sections 365-A, 392, 376 (ii), 427, 201,34, 337-L2, 337-F1 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

The convicts had sexually assaulted the survivor, a Pakistan origin French woman, in front of her three minor children after dragging her out of her car that stopped during the late night travel on the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway after fuel ran out.

The police had recovered a pistol and a club, used in the crime, from the custody of the convicts besides recovery of their mobile phones.

The police had traced them with the help of their DNA samples that matched with the blood stains found at the crime scene.

Published in Dawn, June 3rd, 2026