‘Kidnapping for ransom’ triable by ATC, Peshawar High Court declares

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has ruled that a case of ‘kidnapping for ransom’ was triable by the anti-terrorism court because of its inclusion in the Schedule of the anti-terrorism law. A bench consisting of Justice Mudassir Ameer and Justice Aurangzeb rejected pleas of four of the accused in the high-profile Dr Warda Mushtaq murder case from Abbottabad , seeking deletion of Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997, from the FIR of the occurrence and transferring of the case to an ordinary court. It upheld an order of the ATC Hazara region of April 13, 2026, whereby the present petitioners had moved an application for transferring their case to a regular court. The petitioners included a central character in the case, Ms Rida Waheed Jadoon, her husband Waheed Ahmad and two others Nadeem and Pervez. Rejects accused’s plea to transfer Dr Warda murder case to regular court The bench, in its 16-page detailed judgement, decided the question: “Whether the learned Anti-Terrorism Court, Hazara Division, Abbottabad possesses lawful jurisdiction under the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 to try the petitioners for the offence under Section 365-A (kidnapping for ransom), P.P.C., notwithstanding the contention that the ingredients constituting ‘terrorism’ within the meaning of Section 6 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 are not attracted to the facts of the case?” On December 4, 2025, Dr Warda was allegedly taken from the hospital by her friend, Rida Waheed, to her house on the pretext of returning the 67 tolas of gold jewelry she had taken from her. However, the medic’s body was later recovered from the Leli Banuta forest on December 8. The FIR of the incident was initially registered on Dec 5, 2025, at Abbottabad’s Cantt Police Station, by the father of the deceased, under different provisions of the PPC (Pakistan Penal Code) and Section 7 of the ATA. After the confirmation of the doctor’s death, Section 302 (intentional murder) PPC was also included in ...

Original source: Dawn Pakistan