Asfand Yar Khan and another vs The State and another
This matter concerns a petition for post-arrest bail filed by two brothers, Asfand Yar Khan and Salman Khan, who were implicated as accused in a double homicide case through a supplementary statement filed weeks after the initial First Information Report. The core legal question was whether the petitioners were entitled to bail given their absence from the initial crime report and the consistency of witnesses regarding the number of assailants. The Supreme Court observed that the petitioners were not named in the original crime report, and all witnesses were unanimous that only five individuals were involved in the incident, which excluded the petitioners. The Court held that this significant omission created a case of further inquiry under the relevant bail provisions. Consequently, the Court converted the criminal petition into an appeal, allowed the bail, and directed the petitioners' release upon furnishing bail bonds. The key principle laid down is that the unexplained omission of an accused from the initial crime report, coupled with consistent witness testimony limiting the number of perpetrators to a number excluding the accused, constitutes sufficient grounds for the grant of bail under the principle of further inquiry.
- Does the inclusion of an accused in a supplementary statement, when they were absent from the initial crime report, constitute grounds for further inquiry under Section 497(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898?
- Can bail be granted when witness testimony consistently limits the number of perpetrators to a count that excludes the petitioners?
- Section 497(2), Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
ORDER
QAZI MUHAMMAD AMIN AHMED, J.---Asfand Yar Khan and Salman Khan, real brothers inter se, seek admission to bail; they have been arrayed as accused through supplementary statement dated 4.9.2019, in a case of homicide, registered on 17.8.2019 at Police Station Paharipura Peshawar on the statement of Nadim Safdar , acclaimed witness of the incident; he had blamed Asad, Farhan, Imran, Amjad and Aamir as the culprits for committing murder of his sister Sumera Safdar and driver Inaam Lag, who drove the entourage to attend proceedings in a case of murderous assault in District Courts Peshawar . Motive for the crime is bad blood over property with a string of cases raging between the parties. Sumera Safdar's daughter through supplementary statement joined the petitioners with the co-accused, initially omitted by the complainant as well as the witnesses who claimed to have survived the assault.
2. Heard. Record perused.
3. Be that as it may, the petitioners were not named in the crime report as being alongside the accused who gunned down the deceased; all the witnesses are unanimous on the number of accused as five; the omission is intriguing and by itself brings petitioners' case within the remit of subsection (2) of section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898. Criminal Petition is converted into appeal and same is allowed; the petitioners shall be released upon furnishing bonds in the sum of Rs.500,000/- with one surety each in the like to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court/Duty Judge.
Cited by 3 cases
- Muhammad Javed etc vs State etc PLJ 2022 Cr.C. 1490
- Nazir Ahmad vs CCPO, Lahore, etc 2021 LHC 7155, PLJ 2022 Cr.C. 670, 2022 PLJ 263
- Nazir Ahmed vs Capital City Police Officer, Lahore and 5 others 2023 YLR 382