March 15, 2006	Wednesday	Safar 14, 1427

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PESHAWAR, March 14: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday observed that an accused convicted under the Hudood Ordinance by the trial court could only file an appeal to the Federal Shariat Court and not the high court.

A two-member bench of the court comprising Chief Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Ijaz Afzal referred the appeal filed by a convict to the Federal Shariat Court.

The bench directed the high court official concerned to send the appeal along with the entire record of the case to the Shariat Court.

The appellant, Fazlur Rehman, was convicted by a trial court in Nowshera in 2001 and was sentenced to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs100,000.

The police officials of Akbarpura police station had registered the FIR of the case on Feb 14, 1994. The police alleged that they had received information that some robbers had looted some shops and were on the run.

They said that when the accused spotted the police party they opened fire which resulted in a constable being shot dead and another being injured.

They said that two of the robbers, Fazlur Rehman and Kifayat, were arrested on the spot whereas two others, Islam Gul and Bawar Khan, were arrested later.

The Nowshera additional district and sessions’ judge conducted the trial and convicted Fazlur and Kifayat under sections 302, 324 and 353 of the Pakistan Penal Code read with section 13 of the Arms Ordinance.

The state counsel, Shahnawaz Khan, contended that the Shariat Court was competent to hear the instant appeal. He added that the law was clear on this point.