2018 PLP 740 (YLR)

ABDUL SAMI KHAN, J.

Through this petition under section 498 Cr.P.C. the petitioners have sought pre-arrest bail in case FIR No.199/16, dated 02.06.2016 registered at Police Station Kanganpur, District Kasur in respect of offences under sections 337A(ii), 337F(i), 337L(2), 148, 149, P.P.C.

2. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record with their able assistance. This is bail before arrest and only tentative assessment is required at this stage. It has been noticed by this Court that there is an unexplained delay of eighteen days in registration of FIR, which prima facie reflects that the FIR has been got registered after due deliberation and consultation. As far as Naveed Ahmad and Ijaz Ali alias Sony petitioners are concerned, no specific role is assigned to them, whereas the allegation of giving sota blow by Muhammad Iftikhar petitioner on the head of Nazir Ahmad complainant is not supported by medical evidence as admittedly Nazir Ahmad complainant has not got himself medically examined after the alleged incident. Although Muhammad Mubashar petitioner has been assigned the role of causing injury on the head of Sughran Bibi injured, yet the fact remains that during the course of investigation he was found merely present at the spot and he did not cause any injury to Sughran Bibi injured. Even otherwise, it is an admitted position of the case that the petitioners are previous non-convict; neither they are hardened, dangerous, desperate criminals nor they have committed the alleged offence on the pretext of honour, therefore, section 337N(2), P.P.C. also comes to their rescue, which is reproduced as under:-- 337-N. Cases in which qisas for hurt shall not be enforced: (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Chapter, in all cases of hurt, the Court may, having regard to the kind of hurt caused by him, in addition to payment of arsh, award ta'zir to an offender who is a previous convict, habitual or hardened, desperate or dangerous criminal [or the offence has been committed by him in the name or on the pretext of honour] Provided that the ta'zir shall not be less than one-third of the maximum imprisonment provided for the hurt caused if the offender is a previous convict, habitual, hardened, desperate or dangerous criminal or if the offence has been committed by him in the name or on the pretext of honour. The above provision of law clearly depicts that additional punishment of imprisonment as ta'zir can only be awarded to a person, who is previous convict or hardened, dangerous, desperate criminal or he has committed the offence on the pretext of honour, but all these elements are missing in this case. The person of the petitioners cannot be handed over to police only for the purpose of effecting recovery, which otherwise has lost relevancy with the passage of time as occurrence in this case took place on 15.06.2016. In such situation, recovery of weapons of offence after the lapse of more than one year and two months is of little help to the prosecution. In this regard, reliance can be placed on 2014 SCMR 1349. The petitioners have already joined the investigation, which is complete to their extent, therefore, no useful purpose would be served by sending them behind the bars so as to enable them to come out of jail on post-arrest bail after few days.

3. For what has been discussed above, false implication of the petitioners by the complainant with mala fide intention and ulterior motive cannot be ruled out of consideration, hence, this petition is allowed and the ad interim pre-arrest bail already granted to the petitioners vide this Court's order dated 21.07.2017 is hereby confirmed subject to furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs.100,000/- (Rupees one hundred thousand only) each with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of learned trial court.

4. The observations made above are tentative in nature and are strictly confined to the decision of this bail petition only. WA/M-157/L Bail confirmed.