RUKHSAR vs THE STATE
This post-arrest bail petition was filed before the Lahore High Court by the petitioner, who was implicated in an FIR registered under Sections 18 and 22 of the Emigration Ordinance 1979 read with Sections 3 and 4 of the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002. The prosecution alleged that the petitioner, acting as an agent alongside a co-accused, cheated Pakistani deportees by arranging fake travel documents to send them to Greece via Iran. The core legal question was whether the petitioner was entitled to the concession of post-arrest bail under Section 497(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 on the ground of further inquiry. The High Court observed that the four deportees specifically attributed to the petitioner appeared and categorically stated that he had not defrauded them. Additionally, the investigating officer confirmed that no nexus between the petitioner and the co-accused was discovered. Consequently, the High Court held the case called for further inquiry and granted bail to the petitioner.
- Does the exoneration of an accused by the alleged victims during court proceedings make out a case for further inquiry under Section 497(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898?
- Whether the absence of an investigative nexus between co-accused persons in a human trafficking case warrants the grant of post-arrest bail?
- Can post-arrest bail be granted in offences under the Emigration Ordinance 1979 and the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002 where the affectees deny that the petitioner defrauded them?
- Section 18, Emigration Ordinance 1979
- Section 22, Emigration Ordinance 1979
- Section 3, Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002
- Section 4, Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance 2002
- Section 497(2), Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
ORDER
' M. BILAL KHAN, J.---Rukhsar son of Muhammad Walayat, the petitioner, by filing the instant petition seeks post-arrest bail in case F.I.R. No.19, dated 20-12-2002, registered at Police Station, Passport Circle F.I.A., Quetta Zone, Smugli Road, Quetta, for offences under sections 18/22 of the Emigration Ordinance, 1979 read with sections 3/4 of the Prevention and Control of Human Trafficking Ordinance, 2002.
2. Briefly the facts of the case as contained in the F.I.R. Were that seventy nine Pakistani Nationals had been handed over to the Pakistani Authorities by the Iranian Authorities, who had been arrested in Iran on the charge of travelling without valid documents; the Incharge Immigration Check Post Taftan in his turn handed over those persons to Federal Investigating Agency for legal action; an inquiry was conducted and it was found out that out of the seventy nine deportees, seventeen, whose names with their parentage have been mentioned in the F.I.R., had been sent to Iran en route to Greece by two agents, namely, Haji Ansar and Rukhsar (the petitioner); the deportees, according to the F.I.R., had disclosed that the said agents had cheated and defrauded them by arranging their forged/fake documents under the promise that they would be sent to Greece via Iran. Resultantly, the instant F.I.R. Had been recorded.
3. After his arrest, the petitioner applied for his post-arrest bail, which had been turned down by the learned Special Judge (Cenral), Lahore vide order dated 26-7-2005. Hence, the instant petition.
4. I have heard the learned counsel for the petitioner at considerable length and have also gone through the record brought by Muhammad Riaz, S.-I.
5. According to the F.I.R. Itself, the allegation against the petitioner was that out of the seventeen deportees, he was responsible for sending four of them abroad. The said four deportees, namely, Imran Hameed son of Hameed Ullah, Ghulam Ali son of Lal Khan, Mohsin Ali son of Mahmood-ul- Hassan and Tahir Abbas son of Ahmad, all residents of Mandi Baha-ud-Din, had appeared before the learned Special judge (Central) and deposed that the petitioner was not the one, who had defrauded them. Likewise they are present in this Court today and reiterated their position, which they had A taken before the learned Special Judge. On the Court query, Muhammad Riaz, S.-I., present with record, submitted that during the course of investigation no nexus between the petitioner and Haji Ansar, co-accused, has been found, which prima facie rules out the possibility that the petitioner was acting in cahoots with said Haji Ansar. Keeping in view the position taken by the alleged affectees, the case of the petitioner is rendered one of further inquiry within the contemplation of subsection (2) of section 497, Cr.P.C.
6. Resultantly, this petition is allowed and the petitioner is admitted to bail subject to his furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs.1,00,000 (Rupees one lac) with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court.