Lahore ATC deletes terrorism charges in Ichhra woman case

LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court on Thursday approved deletion of terrorism charges in a case of harassment to a woman in Ichhra Bazaar for wearing a shirt with Arabic print.

Judge Arshad Javed passed the order on the applications of suspects and instructed his office to transfer the case to a sessions court.

The police investigation found suspects Altamish Saqlain, Nadeem, Muhammad Ali alias Chand Butt, Malik Khurram Shehzad and Adil Sarwar guilty while cleric Maulana Aleemuddin Shakir, Khalid Mahmood and Allama Saqib Ali had been declared innocent.

The lawyers for the suspects argued that the terrorism charges could not be applied in the case based on the contents of the FIR.

Ichhra police registered the FIR a week after the incident wherein dozens of religiously charged people had accused a woman of blasphemy in Ichhra Bazaar as she was wearing a shirt having Arabic calligraphy print.

The mob threatened to kill the woman. However, a police team, led by ASP Sheharbano Naqvi, had rescued the woman and shifted her to a police station.

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2024