A division bench of Lahore High Court on Tuesday temporarily restrained an anti-terrorism court from concluding trial of the suspects who had allegedly killed a woman for marrying a man of her choice.
Muhammad Azeem, father of Farzana Bibi who was killed on May 27, filed the petition challenging the jurisdiction of the anti-terrorism court to hold the trial.
His counsel argued that provisions of the Anti-Terrorism Act had been inserted in the FIR without justification. He said the case was related to a court having ordinary jurisdiction of law.
He said a murder resulting from family enmity could not be treated as terrorism.
He asked the court to order removal of Section 7-ATA from the FIR and refer the trial to a court that had ordinary jurisdiction. The bench retrained the trial court from deciding the case. However, it said proceedings could continue. The court summoned the case record on August 4.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 16th, 2014.