Daily Times

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Friday dropped Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) sections in one case, registered in connection with the Kasur scandal.

The Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas passed these orders while allowing an application, which was filed by the accused Haseem Amir, Ateeq-ur-Rehman, Tanzeel-ur-Rehman and Saleem Akhtar.

Arguing before the court, the defence counsel Adnan Liaqat said that Ganda Singh Wala police had registered the FIR No 191/15 against the accused under the ATA sections on pressure from the media.

He contended that the offence did not fall under the ATA. He pleaded with the court to drop the ATA sections and transfer the case to an ordinary court for hearing.

However, the prosecution opposed the request and pleaded with the court to dismiss the application.

The court, after hearing arguments, dropped the ATA sections and transferred the case hearing to the session’s court.

It is worth mentioning here that the court had already dropped ATA sections in many cases, registered in connection with the scandal.

The Kasur police had registered a total of 31 cases in connection with the child abuse scandal against 20 accused. Twenty-five cases were registered under sections of 506, 293, 387, 386 and 377 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and sections of the Anti-Terrorism Act, whereas six other cases were registered under sections of CrPC alone.