ISLAMABAD
The Supreme Court has issued a one-page written judgment rejecting the Punjab government’s review petition against the sentence alteration of a rape convict.
Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan authored the decision, stating that the petitioner’s counsel failed to highlight any material illegality or irregularity in the original order, as all key questions raised in the review had already been addressed. The Punjab government had filed the review petition in December 2025, challenging the apex court’s 2-1 majority verdict dated December 2, 2025, which acquitted the accused, Hassan Khan, under Section 376 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for rape and converted his sentence to Section 496-B for consensual fornication.
Background
According to the case details, the victim, Farhat Bibi, lodged an FIR on October 6, 2015, at Jandawala Police Station in Bhakkar, alleging that seven months prior, the accused had held her at gunpoint and raped her in a nearby forest.
On July 20, 2017, the Additional Sessions Judge in Kallurkot sentenced the accused to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment along with a fine of 500,000 rupees under Section 376 PPC, a conviction upheld by the Lahore High Court on December 18, 2018.
However, the Supreme Court majority bench comprising Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi partially allowed the appeal, reducing the sentence to five years of rigorous imprisonment and a 10,000 rupee fine. The majority reasoned that the seven-month delay in filing the FIR while living with her family cast doubt on the claim of forced rape.
Furthermore, no signs of physical struggle, injuries, or torn clothes were presented, and questions were raised regarding a nearly 1.5-year delay in testing DNA samples. They held that under the law, if a major offense is not proved, a minor offense of a similar nature can be substituted.
Dissenting from the majority verdict, Justice Salahuddin Panhwar had called for the dismissal of the appeal and the restoration of the trial court’s original sentence. He observed that delayed reporting in sexual harassment and rape cases is a stark reality in society, especially given that the victim’s parents were deceased and she was receiving threats.
He noted that remaining silent until her pregnancy became apparent was a natural response, and a lack of physical resistance or marks while held at gunpoint does not constitute a valid defense for the accused. He added that forensic science allows DNA extracts to be preserved for years in dry conditions, meaning the delay did not compromise the DNA’s validity.