TANVIR AHMAD vs THE STATE and another
This matter came before the Lahore High Court through a criminal petition filed by Tanvir Ahmad seeking post-arrest bail in case F.I.R. No. 349 of 2006 registered under sections 302, 460, 148, and 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 at Police Station Shah Kot, District Sahiwal. The core legal question was whether the petitioner was entitled to post-arrest bail given his subsequent nomination via a supplementary statement, the absence of a test identification parade, and the lack of attribution of the fatal blow to him. The court held that the petitioner's complicity and role called for further inquiry under section 497(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, and that an accused cannot be detained indefinitely as a measure of punishment. The petition was consequently allowed, admitting the petitioner to post-arrest bail subject to furnishing surety bonds.
- Whether the post-arrest bail should be granted when the accused is not named in the initial FIR and is implicated later through a supplementary statement?
- Does the absence of a test identification parade make the complicity of an accused a matter calling for further inquiry under section 497(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898?
- Can an accused be kept behind bars indefinitely as a measure of punishment during pre-trial detention?
- Section 302, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 460, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 148, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 149, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 497, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
ORDER
' M. BILAL KHAN, J.---Tanvir Ahmad son of Muhammad Sharif, petitioner, by filing this petition, seeks post-arrest bail in case F.I.R. No,349/2006, dated 9-10-2006, registered with Police Station Shah Kot, District Sahiwal for offences under sections 302, 460, 148, and 149, P.P.C.
2. Precisely the prosecution case as it unfolded in the F.I.R. Registered at the instance of Muhammad Saleem son of Faqir Muhammad, complainant, was that two unknown persons having wheatish complexion, out of whom one was armed with rifle and the other with Sota whose features are mentioned in the F.I.R, entered into his house by scaling over the wall and committed the murder of Nazeer Ahmad, his paternal uncle.
' The petitioner was initially not nominated in the F.I.R but on the supplementary statement got recorded on 9-10-2006, by the complainant Muhammad Saleem, the petitioner had been inculpated in this case.
3. The petitioner was arrested on 5-1-2007 and is in custody ever since. His application for post- arrest bail had been dismissed by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Chichawatni, vide order dated 28-7-2007. Hence this petition.
4. I have heard the learned Counsel for the petitioner, the learned Law Officer as also the learned counsel for the complainant and have perused the record brought by Zahoor Ahmad S.-I., Police Station Shah Kot, District Sahiwal.
5. As would be seen, the complainant in the F.I.R. Had described two assailants, one of them was a man of 25/30 years of age, medium height, wheatish complexion wearing Shalwar and Shirt (Qameez) and the other being a young man wearing Shalwar and Shirt, medium height wheatish complexion while armed with Sota. According to the F.I.R. Shabnam, the daughter-in-law of the deceased, had informed the complainant that two persons had entered into her house and had awakened her by holding her feet whereupon she raised a shriek and Nazeer Ahmad, her father-in- law also got up and called names to the intruders. The petitioner was obviously not named in the F.I.R. His name appeared in the supplementary statement proclaimedly made by the complainant on the same day wherein he stated that Muhammad Israr son of Haji Munir Ahmad and Raqeeb Ahmad son of Muhammad Sadiq had told him that Sabir son of Talib Hussain, Tanveer son of Muhammad Sharif (petitioner) and Shahbaz son of Khan who were armed had been seen in a chowk while running towards the venue of occurrence. Even according to the prosecution's own case there is nothing available on record to suggest that the petitioner and his other co-accused named in the supplementary statement had participated in the actual killing of the deceased. No test identification parade had been held insofar as the petitioner is concerned. According to the Investigating Officer the petitioner had not gone to the house of deceased. In view of the attending facts and circumstances of the case the complicity and the role played by the petitioner call for further inquiry within the meanings of subsection (2) of section 497, Cr.P.C. The petitioner is behind the bars for the last more than twelve months and cannot be retained as such indefinitely as a measure of punishment.
6. Resultantly this petition is allowed and the petitioner is admitted to post-arrest bail provided he furnishes bail bond in the sum of Rs,100,000 (Rupees one lac) with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court.