PESHAWAR, May 3: The Peshawar High Court on Tuesday ordered transfer of trial of an alleged juvenile killer charged under Anti Terrorism Act to an ordinary court in a kidnapping and killing case of a minor boy.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Ejaz Afzal Khan and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel allowed a writ petition filed by an accused, Zakir Hussain, challenging the inclusion of section 7 of the ATA in the FIR registered after the killing of a six-year-old boy, Shahidullah Khan.Advocates Astaghfirullah Khan and Raziq Jan appeared for the petitioner and contended that the FIR of the incident was registered by father of the deceased boy, Lateefur Rehman, on May 11, 2008, wherein he stated that his son went missing on May 8, 2008. The FIR was registered at Ooch Police Station in Lower Dir district against the petitioner and his five female relatives under section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the ATA.

The counsel argued that according to the school certificate of the petitioner, he was born on April 12, 1996, and at the time of occurrence his age was 12.

They contended that it was a simple murder case and the ATA was not applicable to it. They referred to a judgment of the Supreme Court contending that it was ruled that unless the intention of an accused was to create terror in the society or a section of it the ATA could not be applied.

They requested the bench to transfer the trial to a normal court. The counsel for the complainant contended that the deceased boy was killed in a brutal manner which had created unrest in the area. He argued that the petitioner had recorded his confessional statement wherein he stated that he had strangulated the boy and one of the female accused persons had sprinkled acid on him.

The additional advocate general, Lal Jan Khattak, also supported the contention of the petitioner and stated that the ATA could not be applied in normal murder cases unless the intention of creating terror among the people was there.