' This is a petition under section 497/498, Cr.P.C. By Mehndi and Ghulam Qadir, petitioners, for bail in respect of a case under sections 302/364/34, P.P.C. Instituted against them and one other at Police Station Miana Gondal, District Gujrat on 20-8-1984.
2. The Investigating Officer, who was summoned with the police file, has appeared. Since the whole case has been argued, I have requested Mr. C.M. Latif, Advocate for the State, who is present in Court, to enter appearance in this case. This petition is admitted and will be disposed of today.
3. The prosecution case in brief is that Ghulam Qadir, petitioner No, 2, and Bahadur alias Bahaduri, co-accused, are real brothers. Bahadur, co-accused, is the husband of Mst. Satto, a daughter of Salehon. The case of the .Prosecution is that Mst. Satto left Bahadur, co-accused and eloped voluntarily with one Muhammad Hassan Musalli. Since Bahadur, co-accused, suspected that Salehon, deceased, had manoeuvred the elopement, he, with his other co-accused, managed to get rid of Salehon, deceased. Accordingly, Ghulam Qadir, petitioner, induced Salehon, deceased, to accompany him to the residence of Mehndi, petitioner, where both of them stayed overnight. Next morning Ghulam Qadir, petitioner, returned to his house. Thereafter, it is stated, the deceased was not heard or seen by anybody. Then all of a sudden comes the judicial confession of Bahadur, co- accused, where he stated that he and Salehon, deceased had participated in the theft of donkeys belonging to certain Pathans, but at that time they were pursued and that the deceased was caught by the Pathans who belaboured him and left him bleeding on the bank of Mano Chak Canal and that in order to destroy any evidence of theft, he hacked the deceased's body to pieces and threw the pieces into the canal.
4. I have heard the arguments of the learned counsel for the petitioners and the State and have also perused the record. The motive, as given by Bahadur, co-accused, in his judicial confession, does not show that Mehndi and Ghulam Qadir, petitioners, were in any way motivated in the commission of the offence. The only item of evidence against the petitioners is that about one and one and a half years before the filing of the F.I.R, Salehon, deceased, had spent a night in Mehndi, petitioner's, residence, he having been brought there by Ghulam Qadir, petitioner. Taking all circumstances into consideration, the petitioners are entitled to be released on bail.
5. For the foregoing reasons, this petition is accepted and Mehndi and Ghulam Qadir, petitioners, are released on bail, subject to their furnishing security in the sum of Rupees Thirty Thousand (Rs, 30,000) with two sureties each in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Assistant Commissioner, Mandi Bahauddin.