ABDUL GHAFFAR AND ANOTHER vs THB STATE
This matter arises from a petition for leave to appeal against the order of the Lahore High Court refusing post-arrest bail to the petitioners who are facing charges under sections 302 and 459/460 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The core legal question concerns whether bail should be granted in the face of conflicting police investigation reports, an alleged alibi, and discrepancies between ocular and medical evidence, when eye-witnesses are named promptly in the first information report. The Supreme Court held that in the presence of eye-witness testimony and a final police report implicating the accused endorsed by superior police officers, reasonable grounds exist to believe the petitioners are guilty of an offence punishable with death or transportation for life, rendering bail unjustified at this stage. The key principle laid down is that questions of alibi and contradictions between ocular and medical evidence during bail stages should be evaluated by the trial court, and divergent findings by successive police officers do not displace a final challan supported by eye-witness accounts.
- Whether bail can be refused when eye-witnesses named in the first information report implicate the accused despite conflicting findings by successive investigating officers?
- Are questions of alibi and contradictions between ocular and medical evidence to be decided at the bail stage or by the trial court?
- Does the submission of a final police report endorsed by superior officers outweigh earlier police opinions favoring the accused for the purpose of bail?
- Section 302, Pakistan Penal Code
- Section 459, Pakistan Penal Code
- Section 460, Pakistan Penal Code
ORDER
1. ANW ARUL HAQ, J.-This petition seeks leave to appeal against an order passed by a learned Single Judge of the Lahore High Court on the 8th of November 1974 refusing bail to the petitioners in a case pending against them under sections 302 and 459/460 of the Pakistan Penal Code. The F. I. R. Was recorded within an hour of the occurrence at 4 a.m. On the 5th May 1974 at Police Station Gulberg, Lyallpur , at the instance of the father of deceased Riaz Ahmed. The first informant cited three other eye-witnesses of the occurrence, namely , Mst. Nasim Begum (widow of th. Deceased), Tufail Muhammad (brother of the deceased) and a neighbor by the name of Shabbir .
2. The investigation of the case was successively conducted by 5 or 6 Polic Officers, and ultimately a final report has now been submitted to the Cour concerned against the two petitioners and their co-accused Muhamma' Aleem, who was apprehended at the spot after the occurrence. The learne. Judge in the High Court had given a detailed accunt of the successive investigations, but it is not necessary for us to dilate upon them.
3. It is submitted by Mr. Mahmood Ali Kasuri that at least three police Officers have found the petitioners not guilty and have accepted their alibi; that the blunt weapon injuries found on the person of the deceased are not at all explained in the first information report; that the only independent witness, namely , Shabbir has sworn an affidavit exonerating the two petitioners; and that the petitioners are College Students and would suffer irreparable loss in their academic career by being kept in prolonged custody during the pendency of the trial.
4. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioners at quite some length, and examining the available material with the help of the learned Assistant Advocate-General, we are of the view that in the presence of the evidence of the eye-witnesses named in the F. I. R. It is not possible at this stage to hold that there are no reasonable grounds for believing that the petitioners are guilty of an offence punishable with death or transportation for life. The questions of alibi and of any contradiction between the ocular evidence and the medical evidence ought more appropriately be examined, in the first instance, by the Courts concerned with the committal and trial of the petitioners and their co-accused. Whatever the difference of opinion between the various investigating officers as to the liability of the petitionerd, the fact remains that the last investigating officer has submitted a final report against them and that report has been endorsed by the superior Police Officers as well. In these circumstances, the High Court was justified in refusing bail for the foregoing reasons this petition fails and is hereby dismissed.
5. Mr. Mahmood All Kasuri expressed an apprehension that some observations made by the High Court may prejudice the case of his clients. There does not, however , appear to be any basis for this apprehension, as, in the concluding portion of his judgment; the learned Judge has himself made it clear that he was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case. In any event, it is clear that the observations made by the superior Courts, while dealing with question of bail, are intended only for that limited purpose.
6. In view of the fact that the petitioners are stated to be college-going students, let the commitment proceedings and the subsequent trial, if any, be expedited. P. S.-It is needless to add that the petitioners may renew their bail application before the appropriate Court when some evidence has been recorded.