' In a case F.I.R. No,131 of 2008 dated 15-8-2008 under sections 281/285/ 291/293/427, P.P.C. Read with section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997 and section .16 of Maintenance of Public Order registered with Police Station Sakhi Sarwar, District D.G. Khan, the petitioners herein are behind the bars. They have directly approached this Court for their bail on the ground that learned Special Judge, Anti- Terrorism Court, D.G. Khan stood transferred without substitute and the learned Sessions Judge, Dera Ghazi Khan refused to entertain the bail petition for want of jurisdiction.
2. The prosecution case set up in the F.I.R. Lodged at the instance of S.H.O, Police Station Sakhi Sarwar, in brief, is that on 15-8-2008 residents of Sakhi Sarwar Town led by Muhammad Ismaeel, Naib Nazim, Union Council, Sakhi Sarwar took out a procession on Quetta Road, chanted slogans against, local police, blocked the road and burnt used tires to lodge protest against frequent theft incidents in the area. A police party headed by the complainant/ S.H.O. Reached the spot and unsuccessfully persuaded the members of procession to disperse, who in retaliation pelted stones as a result of which the windscreen of police van had broken.
3. Sections 281, 285, 291, 293 and 427 P.P.C, for which the petitioners stand charged, are bailable provisions of law. Far as application of section 7 Anti- Terrorism Act, 1997 and 16 MPO is concerned we must say that mens rea is the essence of each and every offence, which in the case in hand is, prima facie, missing. It is prosecution case that the intention of the procession was not to spread panic or to disrupt communication system or to overawe the Police Force. Frequent incidents of theft in the area tempted the petitioners and their co-accused to lodge protest in order to convey their annoyance to the superior officers of local police. In the circumstances, the allegation of terrorism against the petitioners is open to further inquiry and serious doubt. The petitioners are behind the bars and are no more required for investigation.
'For the foregoing reasons we allow this petition and admit the petitioners to bail subject to furnishing bail bond in the sum of Rs,50,000 (Fifty thousand only) each with one surety each in the like amount to the satisfaction of trial Court/ Sessions Judge, D.G.Khan.