1968 P Cr (PLP)

Ss. 497 & 498‑Discre tion to grant bail in offences punishable with death or transportation for life‑To be exercised judicially in circumstances of each case Special Leave to Appeal against order refusing bail‑Refused by Supreme Court. Syed Masoom Shah, Advocate Supreme Court instructed by Muhammad Nazar Khan, Attorney for Petitioner. Nemo for the State. Date of hearing: 1st April 1968. SAJJAD AHMAD, J.‑This Petition for Special Leave to Appeal pertains to the petitioner's prayer for bail in a murder case. He was charged for the murder of one Rahim Zeb on the 17th of August 1967, but could not be apprehended as he was not traceable. He surrendered himself to the District Magistrate, Mardan, on the 13th of September 1967, and asked for bail which was granted on the ground of his being a young democrat of a respectable social status. His bail was cancelled by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Mardan at the instance of complainant on the 9th of January 1968. The petitioner succeeded once again in securing his bail from the Sub‑Divisional Magistrate, Mardan, on the 18th of January 1968, this time on the strength of a medical certificate showing him to be a patient of some heart disease. The complainant moved the learned Additional Session Judge, who once again, cancelled the petitioner's bail on the 17th of February 1968. The petitioner's application under section 498 of the Criminal Procedure Code for grant of bail has already been dismissed by the High Court. The grant of bail or refusal to grant it, is essentially a matte of discretion to be exercised judicially in the circumstances of each case. This discretion has some limitations in regard to offences which are punishable with death or transportation for life, as stated in section 497 of the Criminal Procedure Code. In this case the learned Additional Sessions Judge and the High Court have duly examined the plea of sickness on which the petitioner was allowed bail by the inquiry Magistrate and have found it to be unsatisfactory. As held by them, the plea was clearly an after thought, not having been taken in the first bail application and was introduced when the complainant party moved the Sessions Judge for cancellation of the petitioner's bail. The two medical certificates disclosing the nature of the petitioner's malady which are not quite consistent, do not induce confidence to justify his release on bail, on the basis of his illness. This is not a case for our interference. The petition dismissed. Leave refused.