Through this petition under Section 498 Cr.P.C. the petitioners have sought pre-arrest bail in case FIR No.405/15, dated 29.07.2015 registered at Police Station Sadar Tandlianwala, District Faisalabad in respect of offences under Sections 337F(v), 148, 149 PPC.
2. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and have gone through the record with their able assistance. This is bail before arrest and deeper appreciation is not allowed at this stage. It has been noticed by this Court that although the petitioners are named in FIR, yet the fact remains that there is a delay of fifteen days in registration of FIR, which has not been explained by the complainant, which prima facie shows that the FIR has been got recorded after due deliberation and consultation. No role whatsoever in the commission of alleged occurrence has been assigned to Muhammad Hamesh petitioner at Sr. No.3, whereas Haq Nawaz petitioner No.1 has been assigned the role of raising "lalkara" and ineffective firing at Abdul Hameed injured. The only injury sustained by Abdul Hameed injured during the occurrence is attributed to Farooq petitioner falls under sections 337F(v) PPC and carries maximum imprisonment for five years. Even otherwise, it is an admitted position of the case that the petitioners are previous non-convict and never involved in any other case of such like nature; neither they are hardened, dangerous, desperate criminals nor they have committed the alleged offence on the pretext of honour , therefore, section 337N(2) PPC also comes to their rescue, which is reproduced as under:- 337-N. Cases in which qisas for hurt shall not be enforced: (2) Notwithstanding anything contained in this Chapter , in all cases of hurt, the Court may, having regard to the kind of hurt caused by him, in addition to payment of arsh, award ta'zir to an offender who is a previous convict, habitual or hardened, desperate or dangerous criminal [or the offence has been committed by him in the name or on the pretext of honour] Provided that the ta'zir shall not be less than one-third of the maximum imprisonment provided for the hurt caused if the offender is a previous convict, habitual, hardened, desperate or dangerous criminal or if the offence has been committed by him in the name or on the pretext of honour .
The above quoted provision of law clearly depicts that additional punishment of imprisonment as ta'zir can only be awarded to a person, who is previous convict or hardened, dangerous, desperate criminal or he has committed the offence on the pretext of honour , but all these facts are missing in this case. It is settled law that vicarious liability of the petitioners in the commission of alleged occurrence shall be determined by the learned trial Court after recording evidence. The person of the petitioners cannot be handed over to police only for the purpose of effecting recovery , which otherwise has lost relevancy with the passage of time as occurrence in this case took place on 14.07.2015. In such situation, recovery of weapons of offence after the elapse of three months and twenty one days is of little help to the prosecution. In this regard, reliance can be placed on 2014 SCMR 1349 . The petitioners have already joined the investigation, which is complete to their exten t, therefore, no useful purpose would be served by sending them behind the bars so as to enable them to come out of jail on post arrest bail after few days.
3. For what has been discussed abov e, false implication of the petitioners by the complainant with ulterior motive and malafide intention cannot be ruled out of consideration, therefore, the ad interim pre-arrest bail already granted to them is confirmed subject to furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs.50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only) each with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the learned trial court.
4. The observations made above are tentative in nature and are strictly confined to the decision of this bail petition only.