Two men sentenced to death in Pakistan over gang-rape that sparked change to law

The case led to widespread protests after a police chief berated the woman for driving alone at night

Policemen escort Shafqat Ali (face covered), one of two suspects in the gang-rape case, as they leave from a local court in Lahore on September 15, 2020 (Getty Images)

A court in Pakistan sentenced to death two men who were convicted of raping a French-Pakistani woman on a busy motorway last year, an attack that had triggered nationwide protests and calls for tougher rape laws.

The woman was raped in front of her two young children on the side of a prominent highway in the northern city of Lahore in September last year.

Investigators said the woman’s car ran out of fuel when she left her house at 1:30 am. While she was calling her relatives and other numbers for help, the two men attacked her. They broke the windows of her car, dragged her and her children to a nearby field, and gang-raped her. 

"They’ve both been handed the death penalty," Mr Chaudhry Qasim Arain, a lawyer for both men, told AFP after the verdict and sentencing hearing. The two men would appeal the decision, announced at an anti-terrorism court in Lahore.

Calls for strong legislation against rape have been arising in Pakistan from time to time, however, what angered people was a statement by a police chief last year blaming the woman for the crime and berating her over driving alone at night “without the protection of a man.”

The Lahore police chief also said no one in Pakistani society would "allow their sisters and daughters to travel alone so late," and the French resident probably "mistook that Pakistani society is just as safe" as her home country.

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Thousands of people took part in mass agitations demanding justice and an end to victim-blaming. The case intensified the cries for stronger legislation and better security for women, leading to a new anti-rape law being introduced to ensure the establishment of special courts to speed up rape trials and allows chemical castration of serial rapists.

Chemical castration of rapists involves using drugs to reduce a person’s libido. It was backed country’s Prime Minister Imran Khan but activists said it was unclear how it would act as a deterrent.

Everyday 11 cases of rape are reported in Pakistan, official data reveals, with over 22,000 cases reported to police across the country in the last six years. However, conviction rate in these cases is abysmal, with official data putting it as low as 0.3 per cent.

However, under-reporting of crime is also a major issue in the deeply conservative society which follows patriarchal codes. Rights groups say, victim-blaming has been a major deterrent in reporting of rapes.

According to an investigation by Geo News — one of Pakistan’s leading news channels — only 41% of rape cases are reported to the police due to social pressures and loopholes in the law and order system.

Additional reporting by agencies