Case: Manjit Singh @ Mange Vs. C.B.I

or disruption of any supplies or services essential to the life of the community, or detains any person and threatens to kill or injure such person in order to compel the Government or any other person to do or abstain from doing any act, commits a terrorist act. (2) Whoever commits a terrorist act, shall,— (i) if such act has resulted in the death of any person, be punishable with death or imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine; (ii) in any other case, be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. (3) Whoever conspires or attempts to commit, or advocates, abets, advises or incites or knowingly facilitates the commission of, a terrorist act or any act preparatory to a terrorist act, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. (4) Whoever harbours or conceals, or attempts to harbour or conceal, any terrorist shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. (5) Any person who is a member of a terrorists gang or a terrorist organisation, which is involved in terrorist acts, shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. (6) Whoever holds any property derived or obtained from commission of any terrorist act or has been acquired through the terrorist funds shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than five years but which may extend to imprisonment for life and shall also be liable to fine. 85.Section 3 of the TADA Act gives due importance to the aspect of intent. The person who is alleged to be involved in a terrorist act can be charged under Section 3(1) only when the prosecution has been successful in establishing that the same was committed with the intent to awe the Government or to achieve one or the other ends mentioned under Section 3(1). The Designated Court, while dismissing the charges under the TADA Act, cited with approval the decision of this Court in Hitendra Vishnu Thakurv. State of Maharashtra, II (1994) CCR 604 (SC)=(1994) 4 SCC 602 . This Court made a distinction between the incidence of terror as a consequence of a particular act and causing terror being the sole intent of the same act. It is only in case of the latter that the provisions of Section 3(1) are attracted. It was held that: If it is only as a consequence of the criminal act that fear, terror or/and panic is caused but the intention of committing the particular crime cannot be said to be the one strictly envisaged by Section 3(1), it would be impermissible to try or convict and punish an accused under TADA. The commission of the crime with the intention to achieve the result as envisaged by the section and not merely where the consequence of the crime committed by the accused create that result, would attract the provisions of Section 3(1) of TADA. Thus, if for example a person goes on a shooting spree and kills a number of persons, it is bound to create terror and panic in the locality but if it was not committed with the requisite intention as contemplated by the Section, the offence would not attract Section 3(1) 86.In State v. Nalini (supra), a three-Judge Bench of this Court has quoted the dictum laid down in Hitendra Vishnu Thakur (supra) with approval and concluded thus: (See p.298 Para 51): 51. Thus the legal position remains unaltered that the crucial postulate for judging whether the offence is a terrorist act falling under TADA or not is whether it was done with the intent to overawe the Government as by law established or to strike terror in the people, etc. 87.In State of West Bengal v. Mohammed Khalid, (1995) 1 SCC 684 , referring to Corpus Juris Secundum (A Contemporary Statement of American Law, Vol 22 at pg 116), the meaning of intent was quoted as under: Intention— (a) In general (b) Specific or general intent crimes; An actual intent to commit the particular crime towards which the act moves is a necessary element of an attempt to commit a crime. Although the intent must be one in fact, not merely in law, and may not be inferred from the overt act alone, it may be inferred from the circumstances. 88.The prosecution in this case has argued that charge under Section 3 is maintainable in the light of the Bombay bomb blasts and the fact that L.D. Arora would have been pivotal in providing information regarding the smuggling of arms and explosives. The case before us concerns the murder of L.D. Arora. The prosecution has not been successful in proving that this particular murder was committed with the intention to cause terror. As mentioned earlier, terror could have been caused as a consequence of the act. The prosecution has stated that the main intention behind the murder of L.D. Arora was to prevent the names of Mohd. Dosa, Tahir Shah and others involved in smuggling of arms and explosives would not come to light during the investigations that followed the Bombay blast. It is, therefore, evident that the intention of the accused in the present case was not to cause terror but to prevent information regarding another crime from being divulged. In the light of these facts, we are of the opinion that the TADA Court was justified in dismissing the charges framed under the TADA Act. Therefore, appeals filed by the State for enhancement of sentence require to be dismissed.

Decision (1 = appeal accepted, 0 = rejected): 0

Explanation:
0[ds]88.The prosecution in this case has argued that charge under Section 3 is maintainable in the light of the Bombay bomb blasts and the fact that L.D. Arora would have been pivotal in providing information regarding the smuggling of arms and explosives. The case before us concerns the murder of L.D. Arora. The prosecution has not been successful in proving that this particular murder was committed with the intention to cause terror. As mentioned earlier, terror could have been caused as a consequence of the act. The prosecution has stated that the main intention behind the murder of L.D. Arora was to prevent the names of Mohd. Dosa, Tahir Shah and others involved in smuggling of arms and explosives would not come to light during the investigations that followed the Bombay blast. It is, therefore, evident that the intention of the accused in the present case was not to cause terror but to prevent information regarding another crime from being divulged. In the light of these facts, we are of the opinion that the TADA Court was justified in dismissing the charges framed under the TADA Act. Therefore, appeals filed by the State for enhancement of sentence require to be dismissed.