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ATA bench allows special revision plea by AZ

KARACHI: An Anti-Terrorism Appellate (ATA) bench of Sindh High Court (SHC) comprising Justice Hamid Ali Mirza and Justice Mohammed Ashraf Leghari on Thursday allowed a special revision application by Asif Ali Zardari.

The bench allowing the application ordered that the double murder case of Justice Nizam Ahmed (Retd) and his son Nadeem Ahmed be sent back from Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) to Special Court for Suppression of Terrorist Activities (STA), Central.

Advocate Farooq H Naek appearing for the applicant moved the court against the orders of Special Judge Central dated November 11, 1999.

The STA Central Judge, also the District and Sessions Judge Central, granted an application by CIA DSP, Amanat Javed, investigation officer of the case, seeking return of challan and other case documents for submission before the Anti-Terrorism Court.

The STA Central ordered that the challan and documents be submitted before the ATC on or before November 16, 1999.

The accused/applicant filed the application before the SHC on November 11 which was decided on Thursday.

Earlier, Advocate Farooq H Naek addressing the court for more than two hours in his arguments said that incident was of June 10, 1996 and ATA was promulgated in 1997. He also submitted that the ATA has no retrospective effect.

He submitted that trial court has exercised jurisdiction not vested in it by law by ordering return of the challan. The trial court failed to appreciate that there was no challan filed by the investigation officer. The trial court also erred in holding that the provision of section 6 of ATA 1997 is attracted to the facts of the case, submitted counsel for the applicant. He also pointed out that police itself submitted the challan before the STA on February 2, 1999.

The bench after hearing the counsel for applicant allowing the application held that it finds merit in the revision application. The bench then disposed of the matter with the reasons to be recorded later.

The same bench also reduced life sentence to ten-years awarded to an accused in a rape case.

The bench was hearing an appeal filed by Shamoon Maseeh, who was condemned for life for raping a 10-year-old girl in the jurisdiction of Gulistan-e-Jauhar Police Station.

According to the complainant, Parvez Maseeh, father of the victim, the accused has a carnal intercourse with his daughter on August 1, 1999.

The ATC-1 judge also awarding life term also fined the accused for Rs 25,000 and also directed to pay a compensation of Rs 50,000 to the victim. APP