Ichhra case transferred to district court
An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Lahore has removed terrorism charges from the FIR registered against people who allegedly tried to lynch a woman for wearing a dress bearing an Arabic word in calligraphy.
After hearing arguments of both the prosecution and defence, the ATC on Thursday declared that the case did not attract provision of the country's anti-terrorism law, ATA, 1997. The judge, Arshad Javed, later ordered transferring the case to a district and session court.
In the charge-sheet, the police had declared some accusedAltamash Saqlain, Nadeem, Muhammad Ali alias Chand Butt, Malik Khurram Shehzad, and Adil Sarwar--guilty while exonerating Khalid Mahmood Khalid, Aleemuddin, and Allama Saqib Ali.
On Feb 26, the Punjab Police rescued a woman surrounded by a charged mob at Lahore's Ichhra Bazar on suspicion of blasphemy after she was seen wearing a printed shirt bearing an Arabic script.