LAHORE   -  The Motorway gang-rape convicts on Thursday filed appeals in the Lahore High Court (LHC) challenging their convictions by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC).

The convicts, Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali, had impleaded state and complainant of case while filing their appeals under Section 25 of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997.

They had submitted that the Trial Court handed down sentence against the case facts and law. The convicts submitted that they were not nominated in FIR whereas their appearance described in FIR by the complainant and victim also did not match with them.

They submitted that the incident took place at 3am and it was a dark night occurrence, but the prosecution failed to prove the source of light, adding that how the identification of the convicts could be proved.

While raising questions on case investigation, they submitted that the identification parade was held after a delay of 22 days whereas it was also not in accordance with rules and orders of the high court.

They further submitted that prosecution witness, a passerby, Khalid Masood, had not identified them before the area magistrate nor before the trial court which creates serious dent in the prosecution case.

They pleaded with the court to allow their appeals and set aside the impugned convictions by the trial court.

It is pertinent to mention here that an ATC had on March 20 handed down death sentence, life imprisonment, and 14 years imprisonment to the convicts on proving charges of rape, robbery, mischief and kidnapping.

On September 9, 2020, the convicts - Abid Malhi and Shafqat Ali, raped a woman at gunpoint in Gujjarpura area while she was waiting for help on the Motorway after her car ran out of fuel.

An FIR of the incident was lodged with the Gujjarpura police under various Sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA).