The Supreme Court has constituted a larger bench to hear cases where the accused were released under compromise in terrorism related cases. The larger bench will take up such cases during the current month.
A three-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali while taking up the case of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA Chaudhry Abid Raza, who had murdered six people in Gujrat, remarked that cases where the accused has been released under a compromise have been clubbed and a larger bench will hear all such cases.
Raza, who had won NA-107 Gujrat 4 election during the May 2013 general elections, was awarded death penalty by an anti-terrorism court in 2003. However, Raza was acquitted after the families of the deceased forgave him after a compromise.
The prosecution counsel told the court that notices have been issued to Raza and three other co-accuseds. One among them, Ghulam Rasool, was present in the court while the remaining two accused, Ghazanfar and Najeeb, have not yet received notices.
The court, while issuing bailable arrest warrants for Ghazanfar and Najeeb, ordered them to appear before the court on the next hearing.
