Syed YASIR SHAH, etc vs STATE
This matter concerns a post-arrest bail petition filed by three accused persons, Syed Yasir Shah, Syed Bilal Shah, and Syed Shamshad Shah, in connection with an FIR registered under Section 302/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860 for the murder of Mst. Sofia Gillani. The core legal question was whether the accused were entitled to the concession of bail given the circumstantial evidence presented. The Court observed that the prosecution's case relied on a chain of events, noting that the accused had taken the deceased from her parents' house on the date of the alleged murder. Furthermore, the Court highlighted a significant contradiction in the prosecution's narrative: the accused allegedly returned to the complainant's house two days after the murder, claiming the deceased missed her child, despite the fact that she was already deceased. The Court held that these circumstances, despite the occurrence being unwitnessed, sufficiently linked the accused to the crime. Consequently, the Court denied the bail petition, ruling that the accused were prima facie involved in the brutal offence.
- Whether circumstantial evidence is sufficient to deny bail in an unwitnessed murder case?
- Does the presence of a contradictory narrative in an FIR affect the grant of bail?
- Are accused persons entitled to bail when prima facie evidence links them to the commission of the offence?
- Section 302, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 34, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
1. ' Petitioners, Syed Yasir Shah, Syed Bilal Shah and Syed Shamshad Shah seek bail in case FIR No, 387 dated 16.09.2016 registered under Section 302/34, PPC at Police Station Saddar Mansehra with the allegations that they alongwith their co-accused Waciar Shah had committed the murder of Mst.
2. Sofia Gillani, daughter of the complainant.
3. ' Arguments heard and the available record perused.
4. 2.In the present case, it was the complainant who accompanied by the dead body of his daughter Mst. Sofia Gillani recovered from Baidra jungle, reported in a manner as to how on 12.09.2016 his son-in-law Waqar Shah, accompanied by his two brothers Syed Yasir Shah and Syed Bilal Shah and their father Syed Shamshad Shah came to his house at 09:00 p.m. to take back his daughter Mst. Sofia Gillani having come aggrieved from her in-laws house, who accompanied them and then on 14.09.2016 Waciar Shah and his father Shamshad Shah again came to his house with the plea. that Mst. Sofia Gillani missed her son Iftikhar Shah and that is how they went akingwith the child and thereafter on 16.09.2016, the dead body of Mst. Sofia Gillani was discovered by his pet dogs.
5. 3.Keeping in view the post-mortem report conducted on 16.09.2016, the death of the deceased had taken place 3/4 days prior to such examination which by a conservative estimate comes to 12.09.2016 i,e, the day when the accused-petitioners alongwith his co-accused Waqar Shah took the deceased from her parents house. Still as per the FIR, on 14.09.2016 they again went to the complainant's house asking for the minor Iftikhar Shah with the plea that his mother Mst. Sofia Gillani missed him so much, when by then she was already lying murdered in the nearby jungle.
6. 4.No doubt, the occurrence is unwitnessed one but the chain of events and the circumstances definitely link the accused-petitioners alongwith their co-accused Waqar Shah with the commission of the offence whereby a young girl was dead done to death in a brutal and gruesome manner and then her dead body was allowed to decompose till it was recovered on the fourth day of the occurrence. Hence, the accused-petitioners, being prima facie involved in the commission of the offence are held disentitled to the concession of bail. Accordingly, this petition stands dismissed.
7. ' Before parting with this order, it is -directed that any. observations in this order, being purely tentative in nature, should in no way prejudice the proceedings before the learned trial Court and the case be decided strictly on its own merits after recording evidence.