MAHMOOD-UL-HASSAN SHAH, TARIQ MEHMOOD and another vs STATE
This matter involves two connected post-arrest bail applications arising out of F.I.R. No. 57/04 registered at Police Station Bhalwal under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code 1860, including sections relating to hurt, wrongful confinement, and rioting. The core legal question concerns whether the petitioners are entitled to bail when general allegations of beating with sotas and lathis are leveled against multiple accused without specific attribution of injuries to the petitioners. The Lahore High Court held that since no specific injuries were attributed to the petitioners, their case falls within the scope of further inquiry under section 497(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure 1898. The court accepted the bail applications, laying down the principle that general attribution of injuries without specific roles or corresponding medical evidence pointing to the individual accused warrants the grant of post-arrest bail pending trial.
- Whether bail should be granted when general allegations of beating are made without attributing specific injuries to the accused?
- Does the absence of specific attribution of injuries to individual petitioners make the case one of further inquiry under criminal procedure?
- Are petitioners entitled to post-arrest bail if they are not previous convicts and specific roles are unassigned in the FIR?
- Section 337-A (iii), Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 337-F (iii), Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 337-L (ii), Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 342, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 109, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 148, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 149, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
- Section 336, Pakistan Penal Code 1860
ORDER
This order will dispose of two connected application for bail titled Mahmood-ul-Hassan Shah vs. The State (Crl. Misc. No. 3093-B/04) and Tariq Mahmood, etc. v. The State (Crl. Misc. No. 2447-B/04), both of which have arisen out of F.I.R. No. 57/04 registered on 1.2.2004 in Police Station Bhalwal - under Sections 337-A (iii), 337-F (iii), 337-L (ii), 342, 109, 148 and 149 P.P.C. Section 336 P.P.0 was also added later one.
2. The F.I.R. was lodged' by Hafiz Mahboob Elahi, complainant, stating therein that on 1.2.2004, at 11.00 a.m., while he alongwith Muhammad Ameer, P.W was proceeding to his house on a Motorcycle, a Wagon which was being driven by Munir Ahmad came from behind, stopped him and started abusing him. He and Muhammad Ameer, P.W ran to save themselves when Mahmood-ul-Hassan and Munir Driver raised lalkara and thereupon Tariq Mahmood alias Niazi, Usman son of Mahmood-ul-Hassan and Muhammad Nazeer came there and stopped them. All five of them i.e. Muneer Ahmad, Mahmood-ul-Hassan, Tariq Mahmood, Usman and Muhammad Nazeer started giving beating to them with sotas and lathis. On hearing the noise, Azhar Iqbal, Amjid Iqbal Rabbani and Nasrullah, P.Ws, reached there and who were also injured by the accused persons and who received injuries on various parts of their bodies. The friend of the complainant namely Saif, P.W., was forcibly taken from his shop by Nawazish Ali, Aftab Ahmad alias Nanna and Zaheer Abbas to their Baithak, when Nasrullah, the brother of the complainant went there to rescue him, the accused also gave beating to him. It was alleged that the occurrence had taken place at the instance of Afzaal Mona and Wilayat.
3. Arguments have been heard and record perused.
4. Although the accused are alleged to have given beating to the P.Ws namely Ghulam Rabbani, Amjid Iqbal, Nasrullah and Saif, yet specific injuries are not attributed to the present petitioners.
Even otherwise, Saif, P.W., had received two injuries as per medico-legal report, one of which was an abrasion and the other one a contused swelling. Amjid Iqbal had received one injury on the top of head, Ghulam Rabbani had received four injuries, one of which was a contused swelling, the second a lacerated wound, the third an abrasion while Injury No. 4 was described as the "lower three teeth in front are shaky. But no corresponding injury on the inner and outer side of lower lip was present. Muhammad Nasrullah Khan had a lacerated wound, muscle deep on the palm of left hand. None of the aforesaid injuries is specifically attributed to any of the petitioners as mentioned above. The petitioners are not stated to be previous convicts. On the face of it, it is a case of further inquiry to the extent of the petitioners.
5. Under the circumstances, the petitioners namely Mahmood-ulHassan Shah, Tariq Mahmood and Munir Ahmad are entitled to the concession of bail. Accordingly, the bail application is accepted and the petitioners are admitted to bail in the sum of Rs. 50,000/- each, with two sureties each in the like amount, to the satisfaction of the learned trial Court.