ZULFIQAR vs THE STATE
This matter arises from a bail application filed by the accused Zulfiqar, who sought post-arrest bail on the ground of statutory delay in the trial for the alleged murder of his 13-year-old wife. The prosecution stated that the bride was found dead from a firearm injury shortly after their Nikah, an act allegedly owned by the applicant due to discovering she was not a virgin. The core legal question was whether the applicant was entitled to bail on the ground of statutory delay despite allegations of a dangerous and desperate character. The Sindh High Court held that the applicant displayed a dangerous and desperate nature by his conduct, including causing adjournments and intimidating witnesses who had to be summoned through newspaper publication. Consequently, the court ruled that his case fell within the disqualifying scope of the last proviso to section 497(1), Code of Criminal Procedure 1898, and dismissed the bail application. The key principle laid down is that an accused person of a desperate, dangerous, or hazardous character, or who contributes to trial delays through their conduct, is disentitled to the statutory concession of bail on the ground of delayed trial.
- Is an accused person entitled to bail on the ground of statutory delay in trial if classified as a desperate or dangerous person?
- Does causing adjournments and intimidating witnesses disentitle an accused from claiming statutory delay for bail?
- Section 497(1), Code of Criminal Procedure 1898
ORDER
' Today is the seventh hearing of this matter. The bail matter appears to have been adjourned from time to time either at the request of the learned counsel for the applicant or due to his absence.
2. Bail plea is pressed only on the ground of statutory delay in trial.
3. The prosecution story is that the Nikah ceremony of the applicant with his wife Mst. Lal Khatoon aged 13 years, the deceased in this case, ended about 7-00 a.m., when at about 8-00 a.m. a gun fire shot was heard from the bride's chamber and soon the bride was found lying dead with a fire- arm injury. This murder of the bride was owned by the applicant for the reason that the applicant found his bride not virgin at the eve and the time of coitus on the nuptial bed. The F.I.R. Was lodged by the deceased's brother Mir Khan.
4. The bail plea of the applicant has been rejected by the learned trial Court because the applicant appeared to be of dangerous and desperate nature.
5. Mr. Ali Azhar Tunio, A.A.-G., Sindh appearing for the State has vehemently opposed the grant of bail to the applicant on the ground that adjournment was sought by the applicant during his trial and secondly due to fear of the applicant the complainant and the P.Ws. Had shifted to an unknown place and they could be served only through publication in a newspaper for the purpose of recording of their evidence. He has stressed upon the desperate character of the applicant saying that the applicants case is hit by the last proviso to section 497(1), Cr.P.C.
6. The applicant by his conduct has displayed his dangerous and desperate nature. His case is, thus, hit by the last proviso to section 497(1), Cr.P.C. The applicant, therefore, is not entitled to bail even on the ground of statutory delay in the completion of trial.
7. Resultantly the Bail Application No,286 of 1999 stand dismissed.