AMIR KHAN vs Mst. GOHRAN And Another
This matter concerns a petition for leave to appeal filed against an order of the Lahore High Court, which granted bail to a respondent accused of conspiring with others to murder her husband. The core legal question before the Supreme Court was whether the High Court’s exercise of discretion in granting bail, specifically invoking the proviso to Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, was legally flawed or perverse. The Supreme Court, upon review, determined that the High Court’s order was neither illegal nor perverse. The Court held that the grant of bail was a discretionary exercise by the High Court, and in the absence of compelling reasons to suggest the order was improper, the Supreme Court declined to interfere with the decision. Consequently, the bail granted to the respondent was maintained. The judgment reinforces the principle that the Supreme Court will generally refrain from interfering with a discretionary bail order passed by a High Court unless such an order is demonstrated to be legally unsustainable or perverse, particularly when the accused's circumstances align with the statutory provisions for bail.
- Is the Supreme Court empowered to interfere with a discretionary bail order passed by the High Court if the order is neither illegal nor perverse?
- Does the proviso to Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898 apply to cases involving conspiracy to murder?
- Can a bail order be challenged in the Supreme Court solely on the basis of the sufficiency of evidence regarding conspiracy?
- Section 497, Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
ORDER
1. NASIM HASAN SHAH, J.--This is a petition for leave to appeal directed against the order dated 15- 4-1978 passed by a learned Judge of the Lahore High Court, whereby he allowed Crl. Misc. No. 2285-B of 1978 and enlarged the respondent on bail.
2. The facts, briefly stated, are that one Muhammad Hussain was murdered on 25-12-1977 and an F.I.R. Was lodged fn this connection by Amir Khan (Petitioner herein) on 27-12-1977 with the Chakwal Police, wherein Fida Hussain, son-in-law of the deceased, and Ahmad, who is stated to be the servant of the brother-in-law of aforesaid Fida Hussain, are alleged to have murdered the deceased by strangulating him in the area of village Khoday. The dead body of the deceased was found under a bridge. The allegation against the respondent was that she was having an illicit liaison with her son-in-law Fida Hussain and Muhammad Hussain deceased, who -was her husband was pressing upon her to desist from doing so and, therefore, she was interested in getting rid of him.
3. In the course of the investigation to persons, namely, Muhammad Ashraf and Muhammad Hussain appear to have made statements before the Police to the effect that they had seen her quarrelling with her husband to days before the occurrence and that she was threatening that the deceased would be done away with and that her son-in-law Fida Hussain would continue to visit her. On this basis, the contention is that she had conspired with Fida Hussain and Ahmad to kill her husband.
4. The learned Judge in the High Court observed that the case was a fit one for release of the respondent on bail. Moreover, her case was covered by the proviso to section 497, Cr. P.C. Also.
5. Syed Wajid Hussain, Advocate-on-Record, appearing for the petitioner, felt difficulty in supporting this petition. He admitted that the eye-witnesses of the occurrence had not implicated the respondent; but submitted that there-was sufficient evidence-on the record to show she had conspired-with her co-accused Fida Hussain to do away with the deceased.
6. We do not think that the order passed by the High Court is illegal or perverse and are further of the view that sufficient grounds do not exist for interfering with his order, which is a discretionary one.
7. M.Y.HBail maintained.
Cited by 4 cases
- ABDUL GHAFFAR and 2 others vs THE STATE and another 2002 MLD 330
- NAZRUL ISLAM vs THE STATE 1996 PLD Karachi 377
- SIKANDAR A. KARIM vs THE STATE 1995 SCMR 387
- SIKKANDAR A. KARIM vs THE STATE 1995 PLD Karachi 73