Bail Confirmed because FIR was lodged after two days delay
PLJ 2015 · Lahore High Court (Multan Bench)
This case involved four petitioners—Nazir Ahmad and three others—who were accused of forcibly entering a complainant's house armed with weapons and injuring him and a woman, under various sections of the Pakistan Penal Code relating to causing hurt, house-trespass, assault, and rioting. They had already been granted temporary pre-arrest bail and were now asking the Lahore High Court (Multan Bench) to make that bail permanent.
The court confirmed their bail. Several factors influenced this decision. First, there was an unexplained two-day delay in filing the police report (FIR), which raised doubts about the complainant's account. Second, the investigating officer himself found that the location of the alleged incident actually belonged to the accused's family, and that the real event was just a minor quarrel between women of the two families—not the serious attack described in the FIR. Third, the two sides were relatives with an ongoing civil property dispute, suggesting a possible motive for false accusations. The investigating officer also confirmed that the accused had cooperated with the investigation, which was complete, and that their continued custody was unnecessary. Additionally, the petitioners had no prior criminal record, and the charges did not fall under the most serious category of offenses that normally bar bail.
This case illustrates how courts scrutinize delays in reporting crimes, investigative findings, and family disputes when deciding whether bail should be granted, especially where malicious prosecution is suspected.
اس مقدمے میں چار درخواست گزار شامل تھے—نذیر احمد اور تین دیگر افراد—جن پر الزام تھا کہ انہوں نے ہتھیاروں سے لیس ہو کر مدعی کے گھر میں زبردستی داخل ہو کر اسے اور ایک خاتون کو زخمی کیا۔ ان کے خلاف تعزیراتِ پاکستان کی مختلف دفعات کے تحت ضربِ عمدی، خانہ تجاوز، حملہ اور فسادات سے متعلق الزامات عائد کیے گئے تھے۔ انہیں پہلے ہی عارضی ضمانت قبل از گرفتاری دی جا چکی تھی اور اب وہ لاہور ہائی کورٹ (ملتان بینچ) سے استدعا کر رہے تھے کہ اس ضمانت کو مستقل قرار دیا جائے۔
عدالت نے ان کی ضمانت کی توثیق کر دی۔ اس فیصلے پر کئی عوامل اثرانداز ہوئے۔ اول، ایف آئی آر درج کرانے میں دو روز کی غیر واضح تاخیر ہوئی، جس نے مدعی کے بیان پر شکوک پیدا کیے۔ دوم، تفتیشی افسر نے خود یہ دریافت کیا کہ مبینہ واقعے کا مقام دراصل ملزمان کے خاندان کی ملکیت تھا، اور حقیقی واقعہ دونوں خاندانوں کی خواتین کے مابین معمولی جھگڑے سے زیادہ کچھ نہ تھا—نہ کہ وہ