Crl. Bail Application No.1389 of 2021
Crl. Bail Application No.1408 of 2021
Date Order with Signature of the Judge
For hearing of Bail Application.
27th August, 2021.
Mr. Shamshad Ali Kassar, Advocate a/w applicant in
Crl. Bail Application No.1389 of 2021
Mr. Kashif Ahmed Khan, Advocate a/w applicant in
Crl. Bail Application No.1408 of 2021
.Mr. Siraj Ali Chandio, Addl. P.G.Sindh.
Mr. Munir Ahmed, Advocate a/w complainant.
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Aftab Ahmed Gorar, J.:- This common order will dispose of above listed criminal bail applications as the same have arisen out of same crime i.e. FIR No. 513/2021. The applicants, booked in Crime No. 513/2021 under section 320 PPC registered with Police Station Shahra-e-Faisal, karachi were admitted to pre-arrest bail vide order dated 19.07.2021 and 27.07.2021 and today the matter is fixed for confirmation of said pre-arrest bail or otherwise.
2. Learned counsel for the applicants while reiterating the grounds mentioned in the memo of bail applications submitted that after obtaining the pre-arrest bail, the applicants are regularly attending the trial court as well as this court and not misused the concession of pre-arrest bail. Learned counsel for applicants further submitted that the applicants are innocent and have falsely been implicated in this case by the complainant. Learned counsel for the applicants next submitted that though the name of applicants are appearing in the FIR but no specific roll has been assigned to the applicants and there is no direct or indirect evidence availbale against the applicants. He argued that FIR has been lodged on the information received through phone call he came to know about the incident. He further argued that the complainant had lodged the instant FIR after delay of three days which shows that after consultation the said FIR has been lodged. Lastly he submitted that all these aspects of the matter make the whole story doubtful which requires further enquiry. Learned counsel prayed that the pre-arrest bail granted to the applicants may be confirmed.
3. Learned counsel for the complainant could not controvert the above submissions. He submitted that applicants have no driving license and they were conducting racing with each other. He further submitted that applicants intentionally hit the victim’s bike during race which caused death of the son of the complainant.
4. Learned Additional Prosecutor General Sindh while adopting the arguments of learned counsel for the complainant submitted that also could not controvert the submissions of learned counsel for the applicants, however he opposed the confirmation of bail on the ground that a person has lost his life in this case.
5. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
6. Perusal of the record reveals that during bike racing son of complainant had died; the complainant had lodged the FIR on receiving the information through phone call and he is not an eye-witness of the incident. There is no motive against applicants for commission of such offence. It may not be out of place to mention here that if a bike rider hits another bike rider he must face same consequences as that of another rider and both will sustain injuries but in this present case none of both the applicants had sustained any injury. Prima facie, case against applicants appears to be doubtful benefit of which shall go to the applicants. In the case reported as Syed Amanullah Shah v. The State (PLD 1996 SC 241) Hon’ble Supreme Court has held as under:
“So whenever reasonable doubt arises with regard to the participation of an accused person in the crime or about the truth/probability of the prosecution case and the evidence proposed to be produced in support of the charge, the accused should not be deprived of benefit of bail. In such a situation, it would be better to keep an accused person on bail then in the jail, during the trial. Freedom of an individual is a precious right. Personal liberty granted by a Court of competent jurisdiction should not be snatched away from accused unless it becomes necessary to deprive him of his liberty under the law. Where story of prosecution does not appear to be probable, bail may be granted so that further inquiry may be made into guilt of the accused”.
7. No compliant of misuse of concession of bail or tempering the record has been pointed out. The applicants are regularly appearing in the case before this court as well as trial court. No specific role has been assigned to the applicants, the complainant is not the eye-witness and he lodged the FIR only on the information received to him through mobile phone call. It is not out of context to mention here that the object of bail is to secure the appearance of the accused person at his trial by reasonable amount of bail. At bail stage, deeper appreciation of evidence and circumstances appearing in the case are not permitted and only tentative assessment is to be made, however, where accused satisfies the Court that there are reasonable grounds to believe that he is not guilty of such offence, then the Court must release him on bail. Wisdom is sought from the case titled Yar Muhammad v. The State and another reported in 2004 YLR 2230.
8. It may not be out of place to mention here that the object of bail is neither punitive nor preventive and therefore, deprivation of liberty must be considered a punishment, unless it may be required to ensure the presence of accused during trial. The punishment begins after conviction and not before it, as in criminal justice system every man is deemed to be innocent until duly found guilty. It needs not to re-emphasize that the purpose of putting the un-convicted persons in custody is nothing but to secure their attendance at the trial. Even otherwise, life and liberty of a citizen is very precious and guaranteed by Article 4 of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973, as has been observed by the Hon'able Supreme Court of Pakistan in the case reported in PLD 1989 SC 585.
9. Keeping in view the above facts and circumstances of the case, I hold that reasonable doubt arises with regard to participation of present applicants in this case. Hence, case of the applicants prima facie calls for further inquiry in terms of subsection 2 of section 497 Cr.P.C. Consequently, the interim pre-arrest bail granted to applicants vide order dated 19.07.2021 and 27.07.2021 is hereby confirmed on same terms and conditions. The instant Criminal Bail Applications stand disposed of in the above terms.
10. Besides above it may pointed out that the alarming number of fatal road accidents of teenagers has caused widespread concern, calling for effective intervention of the Government Agencies. More particularly a teenager, who gets in a motorcycle accident may have devastating injuries or fatal ones. Even more important to consider, a teenager, who does not know how to safely operate a motorcycle could end up causing an accident that hurts other people. Since teenagers accidents and especially fatal wrecks are increasing day by day in the city, it’s important to consider the pros and cons of allowing the teenagers to ride motorcycles on the roads. In the circumstances, the Inspector General of Police Sindh as well as all Deputy Inspector Generals (Traffic) Province of Sindh are directed to take thoughtful measures to stop such activities by circulating the directions to their subordinates/SSPs/SHOs deputed in the entire province of Sindh more particularly in the city of Karachi, who shall in the first instance conduct campaigns in their respective areas issuing warning that parents of teenagers bike riders will be held responsible in case any teenager bike rider is found on the road and/or the said vehicle will be seized. Seizing the vehicles and/or booking the parents can help focus on safety of children and keeps everyone in the knowhow with an expectation that parents will take appropriate action to prevent minor wards from repeating the offence, which puts lives at risk. Office is directed to facsimile the copy of this order to the Secretary, Home Department, Government of Sindh, Karachi, Inspector General of Police Sindh as well as all Deputy Inspector General of Police (Traffic) Province of Sindh for making compliance.
*Aamir/PS* J U D G E