An anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Sahiwal on Thursday admitted for hearing a plea filed by the suspects in the Sahiwal encounter case, in which the latter have petitioned the court to remove Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) from the first information report (FIR) of the incident.

The petition will be heard on April 8.

Another case regarding the alleged encounter is also being heard by the ATC, but no one has been indicted yet. As per Section 32-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the court will have to pass a verdict on the appeal for the removal of Section 7 from the FIR of the incident before indicting anyone in the main case. A hearing of the main case was also held today and the six officials who have been nominated were produced before the ATC.

In January this year, the accused CTD officials had shot four people dead, including a teenage girl and her parents. The officials had claimed that the victims were killed in an 'encounter', but their statement was called into question after two children, who were also in the car at the time of the incident, said that the family, along with one of their neighbours, were going to attend a wedding.

The officials then said that they had received a report that the fourth victim, Zeeshan, the family's neighbour who was driving the car, was affiliated with a terrorist outfit. Punjab Law Minister Raja Basharat had subsequently termed the killing of the parents and their teenage daughter as "collateral damage".