ATC can transfer case to ordinary criminal court: SC.

Byline: Nasir Iqbal

ISLAMABAD -- The Supreme Court has held that the Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC), seized with a case, can transfer the same to any ordinary criminal court for trial under Section 23 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997.

But the authority of the ATC to transfer the case under Section 23 to an ordinary criminal court for trial under the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) can be exercised after taking cognisance of the case, held Justice Yahya Afridi, adding that this authority to transfer the case remained with the ATC during the proceedings of the trial till a judgement was announced.

Justice Afridi is a member of a three-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Mushir Alam, which had taken up an appeal of Ali Gohar against the Feb 21, 2019 order of the Sindh High Court's Sukkur bench.

Consequently, the Supreme Court allowed the appeal after setting aside the SHC judgement and restoring Nov 13, 2018 order of the ATC to transfer the case to the ordinary court.

In its verdict, the Supreme Court also explained the conditions by stating that the ATC could exercise its authority to transfer the case under Section 23 of the ATA after taking cognisance of the matter, and secondly, if the ATC was of the opinion that the offences referred to it for trial did not come within the scope of offences triable under the ATA.

The judgement said the words 'cognisance of the case' employed in Section 23 of the ATA simply meant that the ATC on receipt of the challan could take any step indicative of proceeding with the trial. It explained that it was not inclined to accept the contention that Nov 13, 2018 order of the ATC to transfer the case to the ordinary court under Section 23 was premature as it had not taken 'cognisance...