PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday set aside conviction of six persons by an anti-terrorism court in a kidnapping for ransom case.

A two-member bench comprising Justice Qaiser Rasheed and Justice Asadullah Khan Chamkani accepted appeals filed by the appellants and pronounced a short order regarding their acquittal, following arguments by the counsel appearing for the state and the defence.

The appellants named Anwarul Haq, Qismat Ali, Saifur Rehman, Raza Khan khattak, Naveed and Iftikhar, were charged in a case registered on Dec 28, 2010, regarding kidnapping of a person named Shahidullah, a resident of Daudzai area in Peshawar. The complainant had alleged that the appellants asked for Rs6 million for his release, but later they set him free after his son paid them Rs500,000.

An anti-terrorism court had convicted them on March 21, 2013, under section 365-A of PPC and had sentenced them to life imprisonment.

The defence counsel contended that the trial court had overlooked several important points while convicting their clients. They stated that no identification parade was conducted by police to ascertain whether or not the appellants had kidnapped the complainant. They pointed out that conflicting statements were recorded by the witnesses but that was ignored by the trial court.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play