1995 PLP 1269 (MLD)

4. Learned counsel for the petitioner seeks bail on the following grounds:

(i) That there is a delay of 34 days in lodging the F.I.R. and no explanation is coming forth for such a delay. (ii) That the husband of the deceased Muhammad Ali has filed a private complaint for the murder of his wife in which Muhammad Akram and Ahmad are accused for the murder of Mst. Zakia Bibi deceased. It is further alleged in the complaint that father of the deceased Zakia Bibi is trying to help the accused. (iii) That there are only two eye-witnesses whose statements were recorded after a delay of four days of lodging the F.I.R. and after 38 days of the occurrence.

5. Learned counsel for the State has opposed the bail. He has submitted that Muhammad Azim made a statement under section 161, Cr.P.C. before the Investigating Officer on 26-12-1993 that there were external marks of violence on the person of the deceased, that the dead body was recovered from the room where the petitioner Salhaun lives, that Bashir and Lal made incriminating statements against petitioner and that the petitioner is accused of an offence which falls within the prohibitory clause of section 497, Cr.P.C. and therefore, is not entitled to bail.

6. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and also perused the record.

7. The report of the second post-mortem examination is dated 4-1-1994 and it was on 17-1-1994 when the F.I.R. was registered on the complaint of the father of Mst. Zakia Bibi. The evidence collected is:

(i) Statements of Bashir Ahmad and Lal Khan recorded on 22-1-1994 to the effect that on 13-12-1993 they saw Mst. Zakia Bibi being dragged by Salhaun petitioner and taken to room which was bolted by the petitioner from inside and later on they came to know that Mst. Zakia had been murdered. (ii) On the same day (22-1-1994) statements of Mst. Sughran Bibi and Naziran Bibi were recorded. These women washed the dead body of Mst. Zakia deceased. They stated that they found a black mark on the neck of the deceased and that her neck bone had been broken. They further stated that there was swelling on her nose and there was a nail mark on the forehead of the deceased. (iii) The conduct of petitioner whereby he attempted to conceal the murder by making the initial police report and of procuring a false post-mortem report. (iv) The dead body was recovered from petitioner's house.

8. The statements of the witnesses though recorded rather belatedly yet in a case of this kind it is understandable that when the head of the family did not want the matter to be reported as a murder case who would come forward to produce the evidence. It seems that the petitioner made an attempt to conceal the crime by making initial report in the police station that his sister- in-law had died and he suspected that she had committed suicide. Her husband never reported this matter to any body. The recovery of dead body from petitioner's house, the report of the second post-mortem examination, statement of the complainant, the testimony of Bashir, Lal and two ladies who washed the dead body prima facie connect the petitioner with the commission of an offence which falls within the prohibitory clause of section 497, Cr P. C. He is therefore, not entitled to bail at this stage and the petition is dismissed. N.H.Q./S-702/L Bail refused.