IQBAL vs The STATE
This petition for special leave to appeal was filed by the petitioner seeking post-arrest bail in a case registered under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860. The prosecution alleged that the petitioner, armed with a stick, along with three co-accused armed with firearms and a hatchet, attacked and killed the deceased while he was asleep, and subsequently stole money from his pocket. The petitioner argued for bail on the grounds that he was only armed with a stick, no blunt weapon injury was found on the deceased, and he was young. The Supreme Court of Pakistan considered whether a co-accused who did not inflict the fatal blow but acted in pre-concert and played an active role in the crime is entitled to bail. The Court held that the lack of a blunt weapon injury does not exculpate the petitioner given the prima facie evidence of pre-concert and his active role in robbing the deceased. Furthermore, the Court ruled that his age (17/18 years) and potential trial delay did not justify bail. The petition was dismissed.
- Does the absence of an injury attributed to a weapon carried by a co-accused exculpate them from liability under Section 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 for the purposes of bail?
- Can a co-accused claim bail on the ground of minor age if they were 17 or 18 years old at the time of the offense?
- Is the likely delay in the trial of a murder case, by itself, a sufficient ground for granting bail to an accused?
- Section 302, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 34, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
1. MUHAMMAD AKRAM, J.-The case of the prosecution in brief is that petitioner armed with a stick along with his three co-accused namely Munir armed with pistol, Ashiq with gun and Rehmat with hatchet went together and attacked Muhammad Amin deceased while he was still asleep in front of his shop. They surrounded his cot and shot him dead at the spot. Thereafter, it is alleged, the accused took out money from the pocket of the deceased and then fled away from the spot.
2. The petitioner and two of his co-accused namely Ashiq and Rehmat applied for bail in the case registered against them under section 302/34, P. P. C. At Police Station Renala Khurd. On the 2nd of October, 1976 the Additional Sessions Judge, Sahiwal, allowed bail to Ashiq on the ground that he was a minor below 15 years of age at the time and the bail application of Iqbal petitioner and Rehmat co-accused was rejected by him.
3. Iqbal petitioner alone went up to the High Court for bail but his petition was likewise dismissed by a learned Judge of the Lahore High Court at Lahore on the 28th of January, 1977. He observed that in the F. I. R. It was clearly stated that the petitioner and his co-accused variously armed had gone to the shop of the deceased at dead of the night and one of them had fired at him as a result of which he died instantaneously. These allegations, in the opinion of the High Court, showed prima facie that the accused were acting in pre-concert and were liable under section 34, P. P. C. It was also pointed out that in so far as the petitioner was concerned he was not only armed with a stick but also participated in taking out the money of the deceased.
4. In these circumstances the petitioner has moved the above petition for special leave to appeal from the order passed by the High Court refusing bail to him.
5. It is no doubt true that he was allegedly armed with a stick and that n injury with a blunt weapon attributed to him was found on the body of the deceased. But that circumstance alone does not necessarily exculpate him. From the F. I. R. It appears that accused acted in pre-concert and the petitioner was also assigned the active role of having taken out the money from the pocket of the deceased after he had been shot dead at the spot. He was major about 17/18 years of age at the time and is not entitled to the bail on they ground of age. The likely delay in the trial of this case by itself is no ground for enlarging him on bail.
6. This petition has no force and is dismissed.
Cited by 10 cases
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- MUHAMMAD SHOAIB vs THE STATE and 2 others- 1992 P Cr. L J 426
- GHULLAM RASOOL vs KHADIM HUSSAIN And Others 1991 P Cr. L J 241
- GHULAM NABI and anothers vs THE STATE 1989 P Cr. L J 126
- BAHRAM KHAN vs MENTHAR And Another 1986 P Cr. L J 1971
- Soofi BAQA MUHAMMAD AND ANOTHERs vs THE STATE 1985 PLD Sh. C (A J & K) 18
- STATE vs MUHAMMAD NASIR KHAN and 2 others 1985 P Cr. L J 1546