KARACHI, Jan 7: Justice Shabbir Ahmed, also the administrative judge (AJ) of Anti-Terrorism Courts (ATC’s) for Karachi division, on Monday recalled his earlier order accepting the challan of two accused in a kidnapping for ransom case.
The AJ included the name of Ms Urooj Zahid in the list of accused who were to face trial before ATC-II, headed by judge Abdul Hameed Abro, The other two accused are Zahid and Faisal.
Zahid, Faisal and Ms Urooj were arrested by the Sharifabad police on charge of kidnapping a three-year-old baby Ramsha. After an investigation, the police submitted a challan before the administrative judge against Zahid and Faisal while exonerating Urooj under section 169 CrPC. The AJ transferred the case to ATC-II for a trial.
When the trial commenced, the judge noted that the third accused Urooj was exonerated illegally. The bench asked the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Mazhar Qayyum to explain the reasons for which name of Urooj was dropped from the list of the accused.
The trial court then remanded the case file back to AJ who issued notices to the investigators and prosecutors.
The court heard the SPP, Assistant Advocate General (AAG), police officers including Investigating Officer of the case and inquired that why accused Urooj was exonerated of the charge.
The bench, after hearing all the persons, agreed with the observation made by the trial court judge, and recalled its earlier order of accepting challan against the two accused only. The bench included the name of Ms Urooj as an accused and sent the case for trial to ATC II.—PPI
