MUHAMMAD FAROOQ and others vs THE STATE
The applicants, Muhammad Farooq and Sabir Hussain, sought post-arrest bail in a case arising from F.I.R. No. 20 of 2007 registered under Section 379/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code at Police Station Gadap City, Karachi, relating to the theft of copper wires from electric poles. The core legal question was whether the applicants were entitled to bail given the lack of eyewitnesses, the nature of the recovered property being common scrap, and the absence of matching measurements or ends. The Sindh High Court held that the applicants were entitled to bail, reasoning that the case fell within the scope of further inquiry under the criminal procedure, particularly since the recovered copper wire was common scrap material whose length was not measured and whose ends were not tallied with the snapped wires. The court granted the bail application subject to solvent sureties.
- Whether an accused is entitled to post-arrest bail when there are no eyewitnesses to the alleged theft?
- Does the recovery of common scrap material without proper measurement or tallying of ends constitute grounds for further inquiry under bail adjudication?
- Can bail be granted when the prosecution fails to establish a direct material link between the recovered items and the offense?
- Section 379, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 34, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
' ZIA PERWEZ, J:---Applicants, Muhammad Farooq and Sabir Hussain are facing trial, for an offence under section 379/34, P.P.C. Registered under F.I.R. No,20 of 2007 of P.S. Gadap City, Karachi, seek bail.
2. Brief facts of the prosecution case are that on 21-3-2007 after finishing this job the complainant left for his house and when on the following morning at about 7-00 a.m. He went to his lands for running tube well he noticed that two wires of six poles were cut and matter was reported to police.
3. Heard learned counsel and perused the record. Contention of Mr. Khawaja Muhammad Azeem, learned counsel for the applicants is that the applicants have been falsely implicated. There is no eyewitnesses of the incident and no material is available on record to show the applicant with commission of the alleged offence. The copper wire is common cupidity being credit as scrap as such case of further inquiry and applicants may be admitted to bail.
4. Mr. Muhammad Ayaz, learned State Counsel, has contended that recovery has been effected from the shop of the applicants, however, he could not advance any arguments in reply to the fact that the applicants are dealers of scraped material. The alleged copper wire recovered has neither been measured as to the length nor ends were tallied with to that of snapped.
5. For the foregoing reasons, the bail application is granted. The applicants are admitted to bail subject to furnishing their solvent sureties in the sum of Rs,2,00,000 each and P.R. Bond in the like amount to the satisfaction of learned trial Court.