Sessions court to hear Imran Khan's case after ATC drops terror charges

ISLAMABAD: Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Tuesday transferred a case registered against PTI Chairman Imran Khan over his remarks against Additional Sessional Judge Zeba Chaudhry and officials of the Islamabad Police to the session court, ARY News reported.

The ATC Islamabad has transferred the case against Imran Khan to the sessions court on the orders of the High Court.

ATC Judge Raja Jawad Abbas Hassan heard the case.

During today’s proceedings, ATC directed PTI chief Imran Khan to approach the district and sessions court for interim bail as the matter did not fall under its jurisdiction in light of Islamabad High Court (IHC) verdict which removed terrorism charges from the FIR.

Imran’s lawyer Dr. Babar Awan read out the high court’s judgment regarding shifting the case to the sessions court.

After listening arguments, the court sent the matter to the district court and disposed of the bail plea of Imran Khan.

The Islamabad High Court (IHC) yesterday quashed the terrorism charges against former prime minister and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan over his remarks against Additional Sessional Judge Zeba Chaudhry.

A two-member bench, headed by IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah, announced the verdict – reserved earlier in the day – on PTI’s plea, seeking dismissal of the case. The court ordered that proceedings on the other sections of the case would continue in the relevant forum.

During the hearing, IHC CJ Minallah inquired about the views given by the joint investigation team (JIT) at the outset of the trial. To which, the prosecutor – while quoting JIT – said the terrorism charges are applicable to Imran Khan’s statement.

It is pertinent to mention here that the PTI Chairman Imran Khan had obtained bail from the anti-terrorism court (ATC) in a case where he is charged under terrorism law for a threatening speech against a female judge and Islamabad police officials.