Terror clause annulled in Asma Rani case

ISLAMABAD:

The apex court on Wednesday ordered to continue the trial for the murder of medical student Asma Rani in a regular court rather than an anti-terrorism court (ATC). This was directed as a three-member bench of the Supreme Court (SC). headed by Justice Mushir Alam, heard the case. During Wednesdays’ hearing, Advocate Raja Amir Abbas, defence counsel for the accused Mujahid Afridi, argued that the victim was killed over personal enmity after she turned down a marriage proposal from the suspect. He argued that the offence cannot be considered terrorist activity and that the case should be referred to a regular court. However, the lawyer representing Rani’s family maintained that the medical student had been brutally murdered in public and the trial should be conducted in an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC). After both sides concluded their arguments, the court ordered to remove sections of terrorism from the FIR with instructions to try it in a regular court. Rani was killed in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) in 2018 while former chief justice Saqib Nisar had taken suo moto notice of the incident.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2020.