Criminal Bail Appl. No. 857 of 2017 (female burned to death)

The bail application was filed in the High Court of Sindh, Karachi. Before Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro under the citation Cr. Bail. Appl. No. 857 of 2017. Applicants applied for post arrest bail in crime No. 74/2017 U/s 302,114 PPC registered at P.S Khuwaja Ajmir Nagri Karachi. The advocates for applicants and complainant were Malik Muhammad Tarique and Mr. Ahteshamullah Khan for the complainant respectively. And Additional Prosecutor General (APG) Mr. Muntazir Mehdi appeared on behalf of the State.

The FIR was registered u/s 324, 34 PPC on the statement of deceased herself. The deceased stated that she was beaten by her husband on the day of incident (viz. 13.03.2017) and then was locked in her room situated in the upper portion of the house. Later on at about 7/8 p.m. her husband along with her mother-in-law beaten her again. Thereafter her husband and mother in law set her on fire. When she screamed, the applicant No. 1 to 4, who were her sisters in law and brother in law (living on ground floor of the house) came up into her room. But instead of taking her to the Hospital for treatment, they left her to die. And only after she promised not to disclose the incident to anyone, she was brought to her Aunt’s house first and from there to some private hospital. Ultimately she was admitted in Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where she died of burn injuries on 28.03.2017. Meanwhile, the applicants were arrested on 18.05.2017.

The Defence Counsel argued that the applicants were innocent and had been falsely implicated in this case. Counsel stated that the deceased had committed suicide by lighting herself on fire, and her mother instigated her to record such statement as there was delay of eight days in the statement’s record recording statement of deceased, which therefore rendered the statement unreliable. Counsel further stated that the only allegation against applicant No. 1 to 4 was that they didn’t take the deceased to the hospital and left her in room for dying.
On the other hand, the Counsel for the complainant and APG had opposed bail on the ground that the applicants were nominated in the FIR and in the statement of Medical Legal Observer (MLO) before whom the statement of deceased was recorded, which later turned out be the dying declaration of the deceased.

The Court observed the facts, circumstances and arguments from both sides. The application for bail was dismissed for applicant No.5, while bail was granted to applicants No. 1 to 4 subject to furnishing a solvent surety in the sum of Rs.500, 000/- each in bonds to the satisfaction of the trial court.

The Court stated that the statement of the deceased, prima facie, connected applicant No. 5 namely Kaneez Fatima and her Husband with the commission of offence. She had specifically nominated applicant No.5 that she put her on fire while her husband was holding her. MLO report corroborated the statement of deceased. However, the case against the remaining applicants was that they were present in lower portion of the house and upon hearing the victim’s screams came up to her room, but instead of taking her to a hospital, left her burning. It was clear that when the husband and mother in law of the deceased put the deceased on fire, applicants No. 1 to 4 were not present there. And under these circumstances the question of whether they were sharing a common intent and common object with the principal suspect to commit murder of the deceased requires further inquiry U/section 497 (ii) of Cr.P.C. On this ground the Court granted bail to applicants No. 1 to 4. The Court stated that these findings will not prejudice the case of any party in the trial.