Police invoke terror charge against man who gunned down wife in magistrate’s chamber

An anti-terrorism court granted on Friday six-day police remand of a man arrested for allegedly killing his estranged wife inside a judicial magistrate’s chamber at the City Courts.Sikandar Sahto was taken into custody after he shot dead his wife Saima and hit and injured his father-in-law Dadan Sahto with the butt of a pistol during the pre-trial hearing of the woman’s plea for khula (dissolution of marriage) in the chamber of the Judicial Magistrate-XVIII (Central) on May 29

On Friday, the investigating officer produced the suspect before the administrative judge of the anti-terrorism courts after invoking terror charges. He stated that the suspect’s act fell within the ambit of terrorism due to which Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act was incorporated in the FIR. He said the suspect’s custody was required for the completion of investigation and other legal formalities and thus requested the judge to grant his physical remand in police custody. The judge, accepting the IO’s plea, handed over the suspect to the police until June 7 with a direction to produce him on the completion of his remand along with an investigation report. Initially, an FIR of the incident was lodged against Sikander under Section 324 (attempted murder) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) at the City Courts police station. However, the IO later included Section 302 (murder) of the PPC in the case after the woman succumbed to gunshot wounds during treatment at hospital. Another case was also registered against him under Section 23(i) of the Sindh Arms Act after he allegedly failed to produce the licence of the weapon used in the commission of the offence.

Source: The News