Through this petition under Section 498, Cr.P.C. the petitioner , namely Faisal, seeks pre-arrest bail in case FIR No. 273 of 2019 dated 09.07.2019, registered at Police Station City Sahiwal, District Sahiwal, in respect of an offence under Section 9(b) of the Control of Narcotic Substances Act, 1997.
2. The allegation as against the petitioner , culled from the evidentiary material produced before the Court, is that he on the arrival of the police, fled away from the spot throwing a shopping bag on the of occurrence wherefrom, 520 grams of " Charas " were recovered.
3. I have heard learned Deputy Prosecutor General and with his able assistance have perused the record.
4. This is pre-arrest bail and only a tentative assessment of the evidentiary material produced before the Court is to be made at this stage. It is a matter of great disquiet for this Court that in presence of as many as seven police officials, who were not only present there but also were armed with their respective weapons, the petitioner made good his escape from the place of occurr ence. The place of occurrence, as mentioned in the FIR, is a street and the story of the petitioner escaping in the presence of so many armed police officials, is to be taken with a pinch of salt. Prima facie , the allegation against the petitioner requires further inquiry and probe, which can only be made by the learned trial Court, after recording of evidence. It is also a matter of fact that the alleged recovery relating to the petitioner was made in his absence. In the FIR, it is not discernable as to whether the informer accompanied the complainant to the place of occurrence or otherwise. Similarly , the source of the identity of the particular of the present petitioner has not been mentioned. It is also a fact of the prosecution case that the wife of the petitioner , namely Saima was arrested from the place of occurrence and recovery of 30 grams was effected from her possession. This aspect cannot ruled out that petitioner has been involved in this case due to his relationship with the co-accused, who was arrested from the place of occurrence. The co-accused of the petitioner has already been admitted to post arrest bail and it would be ludicrous for the petitioner to be sent him behind the bars for only him to be released on post arrest bail on the ground of consistency . Reliance is placed on the case of Muhammad Ramzan versus Zafar Ullah and another (1986 SCMR 1380 ) wherein the August Supreme Court of Pakistan has held as under: "After hearing the learned counsel we feel that prima facie, at this stage, the case of the petitioner is not distinguishable from that of others to whom bail has been allowed. No useful purpose would be served if the bail of Zafar Ullah Khan respondent is cancelled on any technical ground because after arrest he would again be allowed bail on the ground that similarly placed other accused are already on bail."
The investigation of the case is complete and already the Investigating Officer has verified the stance of the petitioner as well as complainant of the case during the investigation. Nothin g is to be recovered from the possession of the petitioner . The assertio n of the petitioner that he has been involved in this case with mala fide and malicious intent, is an assertion which cannot be said to be without foundatio n or substance at this stage. In view of the peculiar circumstances of the case, sending the petitioner behind the bars would cause irreparable loss to his reputation.
5. In view of the above discussion, this petition is allowed and ad-interim pre-ar rest bail already granted to the petitioner , by this Court, vide order dated 17.09.2019, is confirmed subject to his furnishing fresh bail bonds in the sum of Rs. 50,000/- (Rupees fifty thousand only) with one surety in the like amou nt, to the satisfaction of learned trial Court.
6. Needless to mention that any observations as contained in the above order are tentative in nature and shall not influence the trial Court.