USMAN vs ALLAH BAKHSH AND Another
This petition for leave to appeal arises from a judgment of the Lahore High Court, which cancelled the bail previously granted to the petitioner by the Sessions Judge, D. G. Khan, in a murder case. The core legal question was whether the High Court exercised its discretion properly in cancelling the bail given the evidence presented against the accused. The petitioner, charged with inflicting fatal knife blows on the deceased, argued that the prosecution's allegations were inconsistent and that the recovered weapon was not blood-stained. The Supreme Court, upon reviewing the record, found that the First Information Report was promptly lodged and specifically implicated the petitioner in the fatal assault. Furthermore, the Court noted that the recovered knife was indeed blood-stained, and the medical evidence did not exclude the possibility of the injuries described. Consequently, the Supreme Court held that the High Court acted correctly in cancelling the bail. The principle laid down is that bail cancellation is justified when the record, including the First Information Report and forensic evidence, prima facie establishes the petitioner's involvement in a serious offense.
- Is the cancellation of bail by the High Court justified when the First Information Report specifically implicates the accused in a fatal assault?
- Does the presence of blood-stained weapons recovered from an accused support the cancellation of bail in a murder case?
- Can the Supreme Court interfere with the High Court's discretion in cancelling bail if the record supports the prosecution's allegations?
ORDER
1. ANWARUL HAQ, C. J.-The petitioner seeks, leave to appeal against the judgment of the Lahore High Court dated 14-2-1977 whereby the bail granted to the petitioners by the Sessions Judge, D. G. Khan was cancelled.
2. Briefly stated the facts of the case are that on 4-7-1976 at about 11-00 a.m., Suleman armed with hatchet, Iqbal armed with hatchet, and petitioner Usman armed with Churri waylaid the deceased Luqman, as a result of which he died on the spot. Usman petitioner is said to have inflicted Churri blows on the neck of the deceased, whereas his co-accused are also alleged to have inflicted hatchet blows on various parts of the body of the deceased. The above occurrence is alleged to have been witnessed by Allah Bakhsh the grand-father of the deceased, one Faiz and also by Bahram Khan.
3. The motive is stated to be an illicit liason between the deceased and one Mst. Anwar the step- mother of Suleman co-accused, who is, a close relative of the remaining two accused.
4. The counsel for the petitioners submits that the High Court, has wrongly exercised its discretion in cancelling the bail of the petitioners. He argues that from the very manner of attack by the petitioner and his co-accused, as alleged by the persecution, it is difficult to attribute to the petitioner any knife blow. He further contends that the knife alleged to have been recovered from the petitioner did not appear to be blood-stained, in this connection he relied upon the recovery memo relating to the knife which stated that the knife was not stained with blood because it appeared to have been cleaned withstand.
5. Mr. Mufti the learned counsel for the prosecution in reply to the last mentioned assertion produced a report from the D. S. P. Which staten that all the three weapons recovered from the petitioner and his co-accused were ' stained with blood.
6. We have heard the arguments advanced by both sides and have carefully perused the available record. In our view the F. I. R. Which was promptly lodged by the complainant Allah Bakhsh at 12-00 p.m. On 4-7-1976, full implicates the petitioner inasmuch as it is stated therein that the petitioner inflicted Churri blows on the neck of the deceased. Moreover an apparently blood-stained knife has been recovered from the petitioner. Even the medical report does not seem to exclude the possibility of the deceased having received Churri blows on his neck.
7. In view of the foregoing reasons we do not think that the High Court had acted improperly in cancelling the bail of the petitioner. This petition is accordingly dismissed.