4th Schedule of ATA, 1997: Stringent approach must be adopted before enlisting a person: LHC

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court observed that the authorities before enlisting any person in the 4th Schedule must make the information credible and be available in more than one form because the suspect becomes handicapped to run his life honorably and smoothly and needs approval from the government even for his medical and educational expenses.

The court passed this order in a petition of one Ghulam Abbas who approached the court against the order of enlisting his name in the 4th Schedule of the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), 1997. The court allowed the petition and set aside the impugned order.

The court said a person enlisted in the 4th Schedule is required to execute a bond for certain restrictions upon his freedom of movement, right to reside at a particular place, deprivation from entertainment and amusement, curtailment of liberty including check and probe on their assets or assets of his family members including parents, being under constant monitoring or surveillance. So much so he can be arrested and detained u/s 11-EEE of ATA, 1997 as and when the government desires. In short, he is clutched so hard to live a peaceful life.

Therefore, a strict criteria or stringent approach be adopted before enlisting a person in the 4th Schedule, and the material collected against him should be appreciated keeping in view the consequences, the court added.

The court observed that sanctions applied against the suspect of the 4th Schedule apparently are against the fundamental rights abridged through statutory law hence the utmost care and caution should be exercised to evaluate the information/material against the suspect.

The court held that when a person is enlisted in the 4th Schedule the information/material against him must not be an exercise in a vacuum or routinely venture based on whims, wishes, or conjectures of the authority to move blindly and run over the guaranteed fundamental rights.

What type of material could be considered to give reasonable grounds must be understood from the design and intentions of terrorists for preparation, facilitation, funding, instigation, or commission of a terrorist act, the court observed.

The court said it is expected that the authority should maintain records periodically for the addition or deletion of any activities of the suspect during the period he is taken on the 4th Schedule so as to place it before the courts for proper assistance and decisions.

It must be ensured that the person, once involved in such activities, is still alive and in touch with the same state of affairs in order to avoid any deprivation of an individual from his fundamental rights whose dignity is to be respected which is inviolable right of a citizen, the court concluded.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023