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

Opinion

Editorial

Mosquito season
10 Mar, 2025

Mosquito season

AS temperatures rise, the threat of dengue looms large over Pakistan. Its warning signs have already arrived. Dengue...
Reckless rhetoric
10 Mar, 2025

Reckless rhetoric

ONCE again, the Indian leadership gave in to their worst impulses, with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar...
Water scarcity
Updated 10 Mar, 2025

Water scarcity

The need to meet climate challenge is even greater when Pakistan is prone to multiple disastrous events at the same time.
Banning groups
Updated 09 Mar, 2025

Banning groups

The state’s approach of banning groups, and then letting them operate with new monikers, must be revisited.
Targeting students
09 Mar, 2025

Targeting students

THE Trump administration’s mission to ‘Make America Great Again’ is well underway, and, in true Trumpian ...
Torkham dispute
09 Mar, 2025

Torkham dispute

THE Torkham crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has remained closed for two weeks, after a dispute over border...