MUHAMMAD SAFEER vs FAQIR KHAN and 2 others

ORDER

' SH. RIAZ AHMED, J.---Leave to appeal is sought against the judgment and order dated 30-10-1998 delivered by a learned Judge of the Peshawar High Court whereby a revision petition preferred by the petitioner to call in question the order of the Additional Sessions Judge passed on appeal in connection with the forfeiture of the bail bond furnished by the petitioner was dismissed.

2. The facts in brief are that uncle of the petitioner, namely, Muhammad Rafiq, allegedly committed murder and he applied for bail before arrest and interim bail was allowed by the Additional Sessions Judge, Haripur in the sum of Rs,1,00,000 with two sureties each in the said amount.

Petitioner and one Kala Khan stood sureties for Muhammad Rafiq and both executed bonds in the sum of Rs,1,00,000 each. On the date of confirmation of the bail, aforesaid Muhammad Rafiq did not appear. On account of the absence of Muhammad Rafiq vide order dated 3-12-1997 the order allowing interim bail was recalled and an order was passed forfeiting the bail bond submitted by the petitioner and the case was referred to the Judicial Magistrate for proceeding in accordance with law. The learned Judicial Magistrate initiated proceedings against the petitioner under section 514, Cr.P.C. The petitioner was given time to produce his uncle Muhammad Rafiq, but he failed to do so. Another period of one month was sought for the production of Muhammad Rafiq, but the petitioner failed to produce him. On 14-2-1998 the petitioner stated before the Judicial Magistrate that he was unable to procure the attendance of Muhammad Rafiq upon which the learned Judicial Magistrate directed the petitioner to deposit the amount of Rs,1,00,000 or in default thereof, to suffer simple imprisonment for a term of six months. The other surety Kala Khan did not appear and therefore, the process was issued against him for his appearance in Court.

3. Aggrieved by the orders passed by the learned Judicial Magistrate the petitioner preferred an appeal before the Additional Sessions Judge, Haripur. The learned Additional Sessions Judge while passing the order dated 4-3-1998 observed that petitioner being nephew of Muhammad Rafiq had stood surety without any consideration and he had no hand in the abscondence of the accused Muhammad Rafiq and therefore, taking a lenient view of the forfeiture order, the amount of the bond was reduced from Rs,1,00,000 to Rs,20,000 or in default thereof to suffer simple imprisonment for two months. The petitioner challenged the orders of the learned Additional Sessions Judge dated 4-3-1998 whereby the amount of the bond had been reduced from Rs,1,00,000 to Rs,20,000 by way of filing a revision petition in the High Court, which was dismissed vide orders impugned.

The learned Judge of the Peshawar High Court by placing reliance upon the following observations of this Court in the judgment reported as Zeeshan Kazmi v. The State (PLD 1997 SC 267) and another judgment reported as Abdul Bari v. Malik Amir Jan and others (PLD 1998 SC 50) came to the conclusion that the reduction of the amount of the bail bond was not in consonance with law. The forfeiture should have been to the extent of the full amount of the bond. When confronted with the aforesaid judgments, the learned counsel confined his arguments to the effect that the petitioner has already suffered simple imprisonment for two months and therefore, a lenient view should be taken. Be that as it may, we are bound by the judgments delivered by this Court referred to here in before .

4. In the light of the ratio of the aforesaid judgments, we do not find any merit in this petition. The same is hereby dismissed and leave to appeal is refused.