' MAZHAR IQBAL SIDHU, J.---Khurram Waheed petitioner after having been recommended to be prosecuted in a case registered against him vide F.I.R. No,520 dated 7-9-2013 registered on the complaint of Muhammad Abbas under sections 384/506/337-H(2), P.P.C. Read with section 7, Anti Terrorism Act, 1997 (added during investigation vide case diary dated 25-9-2013 at Police Station Naulakha, Lahore) has called in question the legality of the order passed on 27-11-2013 by Mr. Khalid Mehmood Ranjha learned Judge of Anti Terrorism Court No,II. Lahore whereby his application instituted under section 23 of Anti Terrorism Act, 1997 to delete the provisions of section 7 of the Act ibid and transfer of his case to a court of regular jurisdiction was dismissed.
2 Tersely the facts giving rise to the filing of instant petition are that the petitioner demanded Rs,50,000/- from the complainant as racketeering amount who is a businessman, having set up a unit of sewing-machines assemblage at 8/40 Tegor Park, 89-McLoad Road, Lahore.
3. Learned counsel for the petitioner has argued that the impugned order is perverse and provisions of section 6-K of the Act ibid are not applicable for the simple reason that no community has been put to threat to pay Bhatta and according to prosecution own case it was demanded by an individual from an individual, therefore, relying upon precedental law reported as 2012 SCM R 517 and 2013 YLR 92, acceptance of the instant writ petition has been prayed for by setting aside the impugned order.
4. Mr. Sittar Sahil, learned law officer assisted by learned counsel for the complainant has adversarial opposed the submissions and argued that the complainant belongs to a business community and he has set up his business at McLeod Road, Lahore and according to the contents of the F.I.R. The petitioner along with his unknown companions forced him to walk from one Chowk to another at 12-30 a.m on 31-8-2013 at pistol point, hurled threats and demanded an amount of ransom to the tune of Rs,50,000/- directing him to arrange it within next eight days and also made aerial firing; the time of occurrence, the place of occurrence, the manner of perpetrating the incident and directing the petitioner to arrange ransom within a week, all these circumstances have necessarily aroused a sense of insecurity in the complainant, representative of a particular community, and it was a definite message to the business class as a whole to be ready for giving Bhatta to the petitioner. Learned counsel has also invited attention of the court to the definition of terrorism mentioned in section 6 of the Act ibid especially its sub-clause "k" and prayed for the dismissal of the instant petition.
5. The learned counsel for the complainant has supplemented the arguments of the learned law officer relying upon the law laid down in Fazal Dad v. Col. (Rtd.) Ghulam Muhammad Malik (PLD 2007 SC 571), Watan Party and another v. Federation of Pakistan and others (PLD 2011 SC 997) and lastly has relied upon The State v. Waqar and others (2013 M LD 1072) and argued that mere demand of ransom amount is sufficient to constitute an offence under sections 383/384, P.P.C.
6. Arguments heard. Record perused.
7. The alleged incident took place on 31-8-2013 at about 12-30 a.m. (night) when the complainant Muhammad Abbas was sitting outside his shop situated at Tegor Park 89-McLoad Road, Lahore where the petitioner along with some unknown persons came on a silver Cultus as well as motorcycle and aimed his pistol at the complainant and directed him to go along with him on foot to the next Chowk, threatened him to pay Rs,50,000/- within next eight days otherwise he would be taken to task. The petitioner also made 20/25 fires in the air with his pistol and they left the place of occurrence along with his co accused. The matter was reported to the police on 7-9-2013. Partway investigation the offence under section 7 of the Anti Terrorism Act, 1997 was added by the prosecution branch vide police case diary No,7 dated 25-9-2013, then on the completion of the investigation a report under section 173 Cr.P.C. Was prepared; thereafter the matter was placed before the court. The criminal act of the petitioner and that of unknown particeps criminis apparently was against an individual but its impact is required to be considered as to the surrounding circumstances of the case as well. The complainant is a member of the business community, running his business at a very rushy area of Lahore i,e, McLeod Road, Lahore; the way in which ransom amount was demanded by the accused, the manner through which the complainant was directed to proceed to a Chowk on their direction, element of making fire shots at a public place and giving of eight days time to the complainant for making arrangement of ransom amount necessarily persuade the Court to observe that a sense of terror, fear and insecurity may have spread in the vicinity where the complainant ran his business. Section 6 clause (b) needs to be reproduced for better understanding of the definition of terrorism:- "the use or threat is designed to coerce and intimidate or overawe the Government or the public or a section of the public or community or sect or create a sense of fear or insecurity in society."
8. The word "community" has its independent connotation. Black's Law Dictionary defines the word community as "A society or group of people with similar rights or interests" . The Oxford Advanced Dictionary defines it as: "All the people who live in a particular area, country etc. When talked about as a body of people having a religious or a professional common and fellowship of interests".
Chamber 21st Century English dictionary also defines community as: "A group of people bonded together by a common religion, nationality or occupation."
' It has also been learnt that community means: "A group of people who live in the same area (such as a city, town, or neighbourhood): "A group of people who have the same interests, religion, race, etc."
' Common character: likeness (community of interests)
Social Activity: Fellowship.
' Community can refer to a usually small, social unit of any size that shares common values.
' Anthropologically the word "community" has a broad interpretation which has been gathered by research made through inter-net such as: ' A number of ways to categorize types of community have "been proposed; one such breakdown is: Geographic communities: range from the local neighbourhood, suburb, village, town or city, region nation or even the planet as a whole. These refer to communities of locations.
' Communities of culture: range from the local clique, sub-cultur, ethnic group, religious, multicultural or pluralistic civilization, or the global community cultures of today. They may be included as communities of need or identity, such as disabled persons, or frail aged people.
' Community organizations: range from informal family or kinship networks, to more formal incorporated associations, political decision making structures, economic enterprises,, or professional associations at a small, national or international scale.
'In some context, "community' indicates a group of people with a common identity other than location. Members often interact regularly. Common examples in everyday usage include: A "professional community" is a group of people with the same or related occupations. Some of those members may join a professional society, making a more defined and formalized group.
These are also sometimes known as communities of practice.
' A virtual community is a group of people primarily or initially communicating or interacting with each other by means of information technologies, typically over the Internet, rather than in person.
These may be either communities or interest, practice or communion. Research interest is evolving in the motivations for contributing to online communities.
9. In this way, the complainant being member of a particular community (business community) enjoys fellowship of interests, with the other co-members, therefore, the prosecution case, in its present form, squarely falls within clauses "b" and "k" of section 6 of the Act ibid, liable to be punished under section 7 of the Act ibid. The court has not found any illegality or irregularity in the impugned order, which has not been found by us to have caused miscarriage of justice. It has been noted with concern that there has been a marked upsurge in heinous crimes, like the one, the complainant was confronted with, in the recent past, due to which, almost every constituent of the society feels denerved/demoralized and it is high time that the outlawed trading such crimes be dealt with drastically so that a blissful peace, studded with mental and physical tranquility, returns to the society, with an atmosphere of congeniality, fearlessness and sheer complacency. The life de die in diem of every individual needs a sheath of safety and security, as envisaged by the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan 1973, which can only be ensured if law is allowed to take its own course with full force and not to be forgotten, that justice is the only key to achieve all, hinted at hereinabove.
10. For what has been discussed above, the instant petition being devoid of force stands dismissed and the impugned order passed by the learned trial court on 27-11-2013 is up held.