Notices issued in govt’s appeal against ATC order

Deputy prosecutor general says ATC removed 7ATA without taking sensitivity of case into account

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court (LHC) issued notices to three suspects in an appeal filed by the Punjab government in the Nawaz Sharif shoe-throwing case in Garhi Shahu.

The government challenged the order of the anti-terrorism court (ATC) which removed Section 7ATA from the case.

The bench, led by Justice Sardar Muhammad Shamim Khan, took up the appeal filed by the Punjab government. Deputy Prosecutor General Khurram Khan requested the court to restore Section 7ATA into the case. The deputy prosecutor general said the case would be treated as routine after the removal of the said section.

He contended the accused had committed a heinous crime and the ATC, without taking the sensitivity of the offence into account, removed the section. He said ATC ignored important aspects. However, the bench will resume proceedings on May 2.

Qila Gujjar Singh police initially registered a case against Munawar Hussain, his associates Abdul Ghafoor and Muhammad Sajid under Section 355 (assault or criminal force with intent to dishonour a person), 504 (criminal intimidation) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) and Section 16 of Maintenance of Public Order. Later, during investigations, police had also inserted Section 7 of the ATA into the FIR.

All the three suspects were former students of the Jamia Naeemia, a religious seminary. The police investigation revealed that the suspects were religiously motivated and tried to create hatred against Nawaz Sharif. Munawar Hussain hurled his shoe at the ousted premier when he came to the rostrum to address the gathering. The co-suspects also tried to throw shoes, but security personnel overpowered them

On March 27, an anti-terrorism court (ATC) ordered police to delete Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA) 1997 from the first information report (FIR) registered against the three men.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 11^th, 2018.