Billionaire Elon Musk has reacted on X to the convictions in the Sialkot-Lahore motorway gang rape case, drawing international attention to the legal proceedings inside Pakistan.
The online interaction began when British Member of Parliament Rupert Lowe shared an update on X about the case, writing, “Some good news to come out of Pakistan”. Replying directly to Lowe’s post, X owner Elon Musk commented, “Bravo Pakistan! This is what we should be doing in the West”.
This exchange occurred as a two-member Lahore High Court division bench, comprising Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi and Justice Tariq Mehmood Bajwa, issued its final verdict on the legal appeals of the two men found guilty in the high-profile 2020 case.
The bench dismissed the appeals filed by convicts Abid Malhi and Shafqat Bagga, maintaining the death sentences awarded to them by an anti-terrorism court.
In their petitions, the convicts stated that the prosecution’s case had gaps and contradictions that made the evidence unreliable.
They claimed that the initial judgment ignored established legal standards and asked the high court to set aside the convictions.
The state prosecutor countered the claims during final arguments, stating that the evidence connecting the men to the offense remained absolute.
The prosecutor added that the trial court reached its decision after evaluating the entire case file, leaving no legal basis for the high court to alter the ruling, and requested the bench to maintain the original penalties.
After hearing detailed arguments from both sides, the division bench announced the decision to maintain the punishments. The anti-terrorism court had originally sentenced both men to death, life imprisonment and additional jail terms on March 20, 2021.
The original case stems from an incident on September 9, 2020, when the Gujarpura police registered a FIR [First Information Report] under several sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.
The prosecution maintains that the convicts targeted a French woman of Pakistani origin after her vehicle ran out of fuel late at night on the Sialkot-Lahore Motorway.
The perpetrators dragged the woman out of her car and sexually assaulted her in front of her three children.
Investigating agencies tracked the two men using DNA profiling, matching samples from the convicts with blood stains found at the motorway crime scene.
Police personnel also seized a pistol and a club from the custody of the men, which were used during the assault, along with their mobile phones.
