LAHORE: The prime suspect in the gang-rape of a Pakistani-French woman, which sparked a nationwide outrage, was arrested on Monday in the country's Punjab province.
Punjab Information Minister Fayyazul Hasan Chohan told reporters that Abid Malhi, the prime suspect of the Lahore-Sialkot motorway gang-rape case, has been arrested from Faisalabad, some 180kms from here.
Over a month ago, the woman was raped by Malhi and his accomplice Shafqat Ali in front of her children, according to the police.
Malhi was arrested in an intelligence-based operation during a raid in Faisalabad, the minister said, adding that it will be the government's main priority to get him convicted in the shortest possible time.
Last week, the Anti-Terrorism Court in Lahore ordered the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to refrain from airing any content relating to the incident on the request of Lahore police in which it was alleged that the police failed to arrest the prime suspect because of the "reckless media coverage."
Minister Chohan said that Malhi managed to flee during four police raids as the media reported about the launch of operation, thus alerting the suspect.
He gave credit to the court's ruling.
In the wake of the incident, Prime Minister Imran Khan had said that he was in favour of "public hanging" of rapists.
He said that he supported the public demand on public hanging in such cases.
The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government said that it was drafting a law proposing "harsher punishment" for rapists.