Through this application under Section 497(5), Cr.P.C. the Petitioner seeks cancellation of the pre- arrest bail granted to Respondents No, 2 & 3 by the learned Additional Sessions Judge, Layyah, in case FIR No, 335/2018 dated 10-7-2018 registered at Police Station Karor, District Layyah, for offences under Sections 337A(i)/337-A(ii)/337-L(2)/337-F(v)/337-F(vi)/148/149, PPC.
2. Briefly, the allegation against Respondents No, 2 & 3 is that on 9-7-2018 at about 7:00 p.m. they alongwith their co-accused while armed with different weapons formed an unlawful assembly and in prosecution of their common object attacked the Petitioner and his companions.
3. I have heard the learned counsel for the parties and examined the available record. It is observed that Respondent No, 3 (Muhammad Arif) has not been ascribed any specific role except causing damage to the standing crop of the Petitioner. On the other hand, Respondent No, 2 (Javed Iqbal) is accused of a commanding lalkara and inflicting two hatchet blows to Mazhar Abbas and one to Qaiser Abbas on their heads. It is, however, observed that the medical evidence does not support the ocular account to the extent of Respondent No, 2 (Javed Iqbal) as the injuries attributed to him were found to have caused by blunt weapon. Even otherwise, this is a case of two versions. Akhtar Bibi wife of Allah Bakhsh lodged cross-version alleging that the petitioner and his co-accused assaulted them as a result of which five persons from her side were injured. The cross- version is supported by the MLCs of the injured. It is thus evident that during the occurrence both the parties were injured each of them is claiming that the other is aggressor. The question as to which version is correct would be determined by the learned trial Court after recording evidence.
This makes the case of Respondents No, 2 & 3 one of further inquiry.
4. The learned counsel for the petitioner has not been able to persuade this Court that the bail granting order is arbitrary or perverse. He has failed to bring any material on record to show that Respondents No, 2 & 3 have misused the concession of bail. In "Aamir Bashir and other v. State and another" (PLJ 2018 SC 445), the Hon'ble Supreme Court of Pakistan held: "The powers and jurisdiction of the Sessions Court and the High Court to grant pre-arrest bail are co-extensive. The High Court does not act as an Appellate Court in such matters. Therefore, once pre-arrest bail is granted by Sessions Court for cogent reason, palpable on record then, the High Court has to show maximum restraint in recalling the same unless the bail granting order is shown to be absolutely perverse or has been granted in disregard of the settled principles regulating the grant or refusal to grant such bail."
5. In view of the foregoing, this application is dismissed being devoid of merit.