LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Monday ordered to remove Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 in a case of allegedly gang-raping a woman and her teenaged daughter. The division bench headed by Justice Ali Baqar Najafi passed the orders while hearing a petition filed by accused Munsib, challenging inclusion of Section 7 of ATA in the case.
The petitioner’s counsel argued before the court that the offences narrated in the FIR did not attract the provision of the ATA. He submitted that the police wrongly inserted Section 7 of the ATA in the FIR due to pressure. He pleaded with the bench for removing the section. However, a prosecutor opposed the plea, saying that the accused committed a heinous act and the Section 7 of the ATA was justly inserted. He submitted that the accused committed rape with the victims on gun point, besides threatening them of murder. He pleaded with the bench to dismiss the petition.
However, the bench, after hearing detailed arguments of the parties, ordered to remove Section 7 of the ATA from the case and its transfer to a sessions court. The Chung Police had registered a rape case against the two men – Umar Farooq and Munsib – on the woman’s complaint under section 376 (punishment for rape) of the Pakistan Penal Code. The accused gang-raped woman and her daughter in LDA Avenue area on August 22, 2021.
