The Supreme Court on Friday restrained an anti-terrorism court from announcing its verdict in a case pertaining to the murder of a medical student, Asma Rani in Kohat.
A bench of the apex court referred the matter to the registrar for placing it before a three-judge bench for hearing.
Suspect Sadiqullah had moved a petition in the top court challenging inclusion of terrorism charges in the murder case.
His lawyer contended before the bench that the murder, according to the FIR of the incident, took place owing to personal enmity. However, the Peshawar High Court upheld incorporation of terrorism charges in the case.
Questioning how the murder that was a result of personal enmity comes within the ambit of terrorism, he pleaded with the SC to strike down inclusion of provision of Anti-terrorism Act in the murder case.
Asma Rani, a third-year student at Ayub Medical College, was shot dead in January 2018 at her hometown in Kohat after she allegedly rejected the marriage proposal of the accused.
According to her family members, Asma was returning home in a rickshaw with her sister-in-law when suspect Mujahid Afridi, who was waiting outside their house, shot her dead. She received three bullet wounds and was shifted to a hospital in critical condition where she succumbed to her wounds and was pronounced dead.
Police had registered an FIR of the case on the complaint of brother of the deceased, Muhammad Irfan, under Section 324 and 304 of Pakistan Penal Code.
