An anti-terrorism court on Wednesday dropped Anti-terrorism Act (ATA) sections from the Sundar Industrial Estate factory collapse case.
The court also transferred the case to session courts for further hearing.
ATC-IV Judge Chaudhry Muhammad Ilyas passed these orders while allowing an application, filed by an accused Engineer Ahmad Hussain. The court had reserved its verdict on application after hearing arguments of parties and it was announced today.
The defence counsel argued that the police had registered a case against the accused along with four others under terrorism, murder and attempt to murder charges on the complaint of Sundar Industries officer Azhar Husain. He said that the collapse of factory was an accident but ATA sections were included in the case without any justification.
He said that the factory owner also died in the incident but the police arrested the accused engineer and others adding that the accused did not take part in construction of factory but only prepared the design.
He pleaded the court to drop ATA sections from the FIR and transfer the case to an ordinary court for hearing. However, the prosecution opposed the request and pleaded the court to dismiss the application.
At least 46 workers were killed and more than 103 received injuries when the roof of four-storey Rajput Polyester Factory collapsed on November 4, 2015.
