Dilawar Ali vs The State and others
The petitioner, Dilawar Ali, sought leave to appeal for post-arrest bail after his previous bail applications were dismissed by the lower forums, including the Lahore High Court, in a case involving the murder of his wife, Muqaddas Bibi, who was strangulated to death. The core legal question was whether the petitioner was entitled to post-arrest bail given the medical evidence and statutory provisions regarding the burden of proof in a joint abode. The Supreme Court of Pakistan held that the medical evidence, including the autopsy report showing signs inconsistent with suicide and the petitioner's failure to discharge his burden under Article 122 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984, constituted reasonable grounds under Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, to connect the petitioner with the crime. Consequently, the court upheld the concurrent findings of the lower forums and dismissed the petition for leave to appeal.
- Whether post-arrest bail can be granted to an accused when the medical evidence contradicts the plea of suicide in a murder case?
- Does the failure of an accused spouse to explain the circumstances of a death occurring under a joint roof constitute reasonable grounds under Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898?
- How does the statutory burden under Article 122 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 apply to a husband when his wife is found dead in their joint abode?
- Article 122, Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984
- Section 497, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
ORDER
QAZI M UHAM M AD AM IN AHM ED, J. Declined downstairs throughout, lastly by a learned Judge-in- Chamber of the Lahore High Court. Lahore, vide impugned order dated 18.07.2021, Dilawar Ali, petitioner herein, blamed to have strangulated his better half Muqaddas Bibi, survived by an infant daughter of 9 month, to death, seeks leave to appeal therefrom for admission to post arrest bail.
The deceased, often complained maltreatment and shared agony with her parents, however, she was advised to exercise restraint to save the bond, a hope that withered away on the fateful day.
Petitioner attempted to hush up the death as suicidal, an hypothesis seemingly contradicted by the autopsy report.
2. Heard. Record perused.
3. With an infant baby girl of 9 months, it is rather hard to entertain hypothesis of suicide by a feeding mother. Medical Office noted a ligature mark around the neck seemingly a complete scar, circumference the neck between both ears; it is thick and hard with parchment, without there being any obliquity, that inevitably occurs in a case of voluntary suicide on account of sudden fall through gravitational pull. External as well as internal petechial hemorrhage unmistakably suggest application of manual compression, a sign diametrically inconsistent with the plea of suicide, further confirmed by an intact hyoid bone.
Instead of taking the police on board, petitioner preferred to avail remedy of ad interim pre-arrest bail, a protection hardly available to him under the law, however, finally recalled on 29.10.2020 and it is thereafter that he came up with the plea of suicide, a circumstance nugatory in itself. Joint abode of the spouses is a common ground and, thus, a statutory burden within the contemplation of Article 122 of the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order, 1984 is cast upon the petitioner to explain as to what befell upon his wife who spent- the preceding night with him under the same roof; his failure to vindicate his position is further aggravated by the statements of witnesses, suggesting an ongoing acrimony between the spouses and thus, constitutes "reasonable grounds" within the contemplation of section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898. View concurrently taken on the basis of aforementioned material, being within the remit of law, is not open to any legitimate exception. Petition fails. Leave declined.