CJP incensed by 7-year pre-arrest bail for murder suspect

KARACHI: An accused escaped from the premises of the Supreme Court’s Karachi registry on Thursday after the apex court rejected his pre-arrest bail plea. The accused has been continuously getting pre-arrest bails for the last seven years in a murder case.

A two-member bench, headed by the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Justice Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Faisal Arab, expressed its annoyance over subordinate courts for allowing an accused in a murder case to roam around after being granted pre-arrest bails continuously for the last seven years.

As the apex court rejected his application for pre-arrest bail, the accused, Pir Irshad Ali, conveniently managed to make his escape good from the court’s premises.

The Chief Justice of Pakistan remarked that “it’s a shock to me that the interim bail of the accused persisted for seven years. Can anyone give the reason for being on interim bail for seven years?”

Expressing his annoyance, Justice Khosa said, “The message should be conveyed to the Sindh High Court and trial court also.” He regretted that the Sindh High Court passed the orders on interim bail after five years. It’s a shock for me to keep an accused of murder case on interim bail for seven years.”

Additional prosecutor informed the apex court that the accused had murdered a man and injured another in 2012.

Chief Justice remarked that the bail plea was filed inthe high court in 2012 and the verdict was passed in 2018. “There is no logic for keeping an accused of murder case on interim bail for such a long time.”

According to the additional prosecutor, the case against the accused is registered in Hyderabad Police Station. The dispute between the accused and the person murdered was on the issue of land.

Plea rejected
Meanwhile, the same bench rejected the plea to suspend bails granted to six accused in a case of murder over some personal dispute.
The bench maintained the orders passed by the Sindh High Court over the bails of Sheral, Bhaiyo, Jamun and others. The Chief Justice also rejected the request of the accused’s counsel to adjourn the hearing.

Chief Justice remarked that the court will not accept any request for delay, therefore the case should be continued.

Petitioner’s counsel argued that the accused killed Sonu and injured Pyar Ali by firing. Chief Justice remarked, “You want that the accused should be awarded the punishment before investigation. Your story is not acceptable. The statement given in the case is not understandable. This seems to be a case of personal dispute”.

Plea taken back
The Supreme Court accepted the plea to take back the request filed by Sindh Government to reject the bail of Anwar Majeed’s opponent tractor dealer, Shehzad, in the reference of corruption in Tractor Subsidy.

As the same bench took up the plea on Thursday seeking rejection of bail granted to Shehzad, Sindh government’s lawyer filed a request to take the plea back which was accepted by the court.
Government lawyer informed the caourt that a civil lawsuit has been filed by the parties. “We are taking back the request due to this civil lawsuit,” he said.

According the government lawyer, the anti-corruption department is carrying out an inquiry against Shehzad. He said that the Sindh government gave the subsidy on the new tractor. The subsidy was taken from Sindh and tractors were sold in Punjab.

According to the accused’s counsel, his client was being targeted for being the opponent of Anwar Majeed. Anwar Majeed has also taken the tractors from Government of Sindh on subsidy.

Warrants issued
The Supreme Court issued bail-able arrest warrants of accused police sub-inspector Rasool Bakhsh, over a plea filed against his bail. The divisional bench headed by Justice Asif Saeed Khosa heard the plea filed against the bail of police sub-inspector Rasool Bakhsh on Thursday.
Prosecutor argued that 2,040 grams of hashish was seized from accused Rasool Bakhsh. Sindh High Court did not pass the orders on merit.
The apex court while issuing bail-able arrest warrants of accused Rasool Bakhsh, ordered to fix the case in the next session.
According to the prosecutor, the police seized hashish from the accused after arresting him in 2018. The chemical examination report is also against the accused.

Source: Express Tribune