MULTAN, Aug 24: An anti-terrorism court rejected on Tuesday the arguments of the defence in the New Multan gang-rape case that the matter did not fall in the ambit of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997.

The defence counsel had moved an application for the transfer of the case of alleged gang-rape of two street singers by six people on May 14 last, to an ordinary court, pleading that rape did not come under the schedule offences of the ATA-97.

Moreover, he had reportedly argued that only the sectarian violence could be termed terrorism. The prosecution, however, contradicted the defence on the grounds that the crime fell under the scheduled offences of ATA-97 and had also caused widespread sense of insecurity and harassment in society.

The prosecution further argued that victims' father Ghulam Husain could not survive and died within few days due to shock. Dismissing the defence's plea, Anti-Terrorism Court No 1 Judge Zahoorul Haq Rana directed the prosecution to present its witnesses on Sept 3, 2004, before the court.

It may be recalled that singers 'S' and 'T' were returning home at midnight after performing at a marriage ceremony in Sameejabad Colony when, according to them, two men kidnapped them on the Masoom Shah Road and bundled them into a police mobile. Later, they were gang-raped by six people, four of them in police uniform.

The police had, however, denied the charge and arrested Sohail Akhtar and Shahid Nabeel, claiming that only they were involved in the crime. A judicial inquiry also endorsed the police's version.

The victims, on the other hand, kept insisting at all forums that four of the six perpetrators were policemen. Later, the police submitted challan of the case against the two men with the ATC.

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