ZAFAR ALI and anothers vs The STATE and another
This matter concerns a petition for pre-arrest bail filed by the petitioners, Zafar Ali and Allah Yar, in connection with FIR No. 1145/2014 registered for offences under sections 420, 468, and 471 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860. The core legal question was whether the petitioners were entitled to pre-arrest bail given the circumstances of the case. The Court observed that the FIR was lodged with an inordinate delay without plausible explanation. Furthermore, the Court noted that a civil suit concerning the same property was already pending between the parties, initiated by the petitioner prior to the FIR, and that the alleged offences did not fall within the prohibitory clause of section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898. Emphasizing that in non-prohibitory offences, the grant of bail is the rule and refusal the exception, the Court confirmed the ad-interim pre-arrest bail, finding the prosecution's case potentially motivated by mala fide intentions arising from the ongoing civil litigation.
- Does the existence of pending civil litigation between parties regarding the subject matter of an FIR constitute grounds for granting pre-arrest bail?
- Is the grant of bail the rule and refusal the exception in cases where the alleged offences do not fall within the prohibitory clause of section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898?
- What is the legal effect of an inordinate, unexplained delay in the registration of an FIR on a bail application?
- Section 498, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
- Section 420, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 468, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 471, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 497, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
ORDER
MUHAMMAD YAWAR ALI, J.---Through this petition filed under section 498, Cr.P.C., the petitioners, Zafar Ali and Allah Yar seek pre-arrest bail in FIR No,1145/2014 dated 10-11-2014 for offences under sections 420, 468, 471, P.P.C. Registered at Police Station City Chiniot, District Chiniot.
2. Arguments have been heard and the record perused.
3. The FIR has been lodged with an inordinate delay for which no plausible explanation is forthcoming. The date of occurrence as given in the body of the FIR is 25-9-2014 whereas the same was lodged with a long delay on 10-11-2014. The petitioner, Zafar Ali filed a civil suit qua the property mentioned in the FIR before the Senior Civil Judge Chiniot in which the complainant is also a party on 23-9-2014 prior to the lodging of the FIR and an order of status quo was granted by the trial Court on 23-9-2014. The said civil suit pertaining to the property mentioned in the FIR is still pending adjudication and has not been decided sq far. The petitioners have been charged with offences which do not fall within the prohibitory clause of section 497, Cr.P.C, hence, in cases not punishable with death, imprisonment for life or ten years imprisonment grant of bail is a rule and refusal is an exception as has been held by the august Supreme Court of Pakistan in Tariq Bashir and 5 others v.
The State (PLD 1995 SC 34). It has vehemently been asserted by the learned counsel for the petitioners that theFIR has been lodged by the complainant with mala fide intention. And ulterior motives on account of civil litigation which is pending between the parties. An assertion made by the learned counsel for the petitioners that the petitioners are previous non-convict has not been.
Negated by the learned Deputy District Public Prosecutor.
4. For what has been stated above, this petition is accepted, ad-interim pre-arrest bail earlier allowed to the petitioners vide order dated A 4-2-2015 is hereby confirmed subject to their furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs,50,000 (Rupees fifty thousand only) each with one surety each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court.