SAFDAR ALI vs THE STATE
This matter comes before the Lahore High Court through a petition filed by Safdar Ali seeking post-arrest bail in case F.I.R. No. 459 of 2006 registered at Police Station Satiana, District Faisalabad, for offences under sections 302, 324/34 read with section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The core legal question concerns whether the delayed emergence of the petitioner's name through a belated supplementary statement, which completely exonerated originally named accused, brings the case within the scope of further inquiry under section 497(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The Court held that a supplementary statement recorded after a considerable delay of seventy-two days, wherein the complainant takes a complete U-turn, constitutes a weak type of evidence and renders the case one of further inquiry under section 497(2), Cr.P.C. Consequently, the Court allowed the petition and admitted the petitioner to post-arrest bail subject to furnishing required surety bonds, laying down the principle that a belated supplementary statement substituting accused persons is tentative material making out a case for further inquiry.
- Whether a belated supplementary statement implicating a new accused after a significant delay constitutes grounds for further inquiry under section 497(2), Code of Criminal Procedure 1898?
- Is a supplementary statement considered a weak type of evidence when it completely exonerates the accused originally named in the FIR?
- Does the substitution of accused persons in a subsequent statement warrant the grant of post-arrest bail?
- Section 302, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 324, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 34, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 109, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 497, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
ORDER
' M. BILAL KHAN, J.--- Safdar Ali son of Mukhtar Ahmad, the petitioner, by filing this petition, seeks post-arrest bail in case F.I.R. No,459 of 2006 dated 9-5-2006, registered with Police Station Satiana, District Faisalabad for offences under sections 302, 324/34 read with section 109, P.P.C.
2. The facts of this case have already been given in some detail in my order passed in Criminal Miscellaneous No,10163-B of 2006, while granting post-arrest bail to Muhammad Younas, the co- accused of the petitioner, therefore, the need not be reiterated here once again.
3. The plea of the petitioner for post-arrest bail did not find favour with the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Faisalabad, who turned down his application vide order dated 11-8-2007. Hence this petition.
4. After hearing the learned counsel for the parties, it has been observed that initially the name of the petitioner did not feature on the F.I.R. And that it had surfaced for the first time in the supplementary statement made by the complainant on 20-7-2006 wherein he had resiled from his earlier statement made in the F.I.R. And had stated that he had got the aforesaid case registered against the accused mentioned in the F.I.R. But during the course of his secret inquiry, he had satisfied himself that the accused mentioned in the F.I.R. Were not involved in the murder of his brother Shah Muhammad alias Shahra and that actually Karam Mahmood, Zulfiqar, armed with double barrelled guns, Safdar, Afzal, armed with carbines .12-bore, Muhammad Yousaf alias Deputy, armed with Pump Action gun, Maqsood Ahmad, armed with .12 bore gun and Muhammad Younas armed with rifle .44 bore had been indulging in firing from the rooftop of their house, whereas Naik Muhammad armed with rifle .44 bore, Abdul Jabbar, Muhammad Yar, armed with .12 bore guns, Zahoor Ahmad, armed with Sota, Sana Ullah and Akhtar Abbas, armed with carbines had been firing from the other side; his brother Shah Muhammad alias Shahra, who was standing on the rooftop of the house of Karam Mahmood, was also resorting to firing and all of a sudden, a fire shot made by Safdar Mahmood son of Mukhtar Ahmad petitioner through his carbine .12 bore hit Shah Muhammad alias Shahra on his head near left ear, who fell down and succumbed to his injury.
5. Supplementary statement is always considered to be a weak type of evidence as held by this Court as also by the apex Court time and again. Needless to add that in the F.I.R. The names of the accused persons with the specific roles played by them had been mentioned with mathematical precision. It was after a period of seventy two days that a supplementary statement, as stated elsewhere, had been got recorded, which reveals that the complainant took a `U' turn and completely exonerated the accused persons mentioned in the F.I.R. By substituting them with the present petitioner and his co-accused with specific roles. This circumstance by itself is sufficient to render the case of the petitioner one of further inquiry within the meanings of subsection (2) of section 497, Cr.P.C.
6. Resultantly this petition is allowed and the petitioner is admitted to bail provided he furnishes bail bond in the sum of Rs,50,000 with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court.
7. The observations made hereinabove are tentative in nature and are not designed to influence the course of trial in any manner.
Cited by 3 cases
- SOOBA KHAN vs THE STATE 2012 MLD 625
- MUSHTAQ AHMAD and 2 others vs THE STATE and 2 others 2011 MLD 691
- ISRAR JAMSHAD alias JAMSHED vs UMAR REHMAN and another 2009 MLD 184