KARACHI, April 10: An anti-terrorism court reserved on Saturday the judgement in a kidnapping for ransom case against a policewoman.

Judge Haq Nawaz Baloch of the ATC-5 fixed April 14 for the pronouncement of judgement after hearing the final arguments from the prosecution and defence attorneys.

Yasmeen Tahira, the 50-year-old constable, has been prosecuted for kidnapping her eight-year-old maternal granddaughter, Nisma, for ransom. She was booked and arrested on the complaint of her daughter, Bushra, the mother of the victim girl.

Special public prosecutor Mazhar Qayyum examined in all 14 prosecution witnesses.

The policewoman allegedly kidnapped the girl on October 28 last year and kept her at different places until she was caught red-handed on Nov 14 at Moro while taking her granddaughter to her hometown in Bahawalpur.

According to the complainant woman, she lodged a report of her missing daughter on the same day with the Kalri police and kept on searching for her. She also advertise the missing of her daughter in the press.

The accused woman allegedly told her daughter that she was in contact with the kidnappers, who were demanding Rs150,000 for Nisma's release. On Nov 14, Yasmeen Tahira took Rs5,000 from her daughter for arranging telephonic conversation between the victim girl and her mother.

Complainant Bushra contacted the Edhi Trust to locate her daughter after receiving a phone call from Hyderabad.

The accused woman was caught red-handed at Moro while travelling to her hometown in a coach.

Defence attorney Masood Ahmed argued that the accused woman be acquitted as she was the natural guardian of the victim girl.

The prosecutor, however, contended that the accused was booked and arrested on the complaint of her own daughter, who was the actual and legal guardian of the kidnapped girl.

He prayed the court to award maximum punishment to the accused woman as the prosecution had successfully proved its case beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt.