ZAFFAR HUSSAIN MIRZA, J.--Petitioner Mst. Rehmat Bibi is facing trial alongwith her mother, Mst.
Sardar, her uncle Amir Bux and Malik Niaz Ahmad, Advocate, for having murdered her husband Ghulam Murtaza, by serving him with meals administered with poison. The occurrence is said to have taken place on 22-1-1984, in the house of the parents of the petitioner, in village Mehra Gharbi, Tehsil and District Muzaffargarh. According to the allegations of the prosecution the petitioner was married to the deceased about 12 years before the occurrence and had given birth from him to to sons and one daughter. She, however, developed criminal intimacy with co-accused Malik Niaz Ahmad and in order to get rid of her husband she had mixed poison in the food given to the deceased provided to her by co-accused Malik Niaz Ahmad. On taking his meals Ghulam Murtaza felt acute pain in his stomach and called his brother Ghulam Mustafa who came to see him alongwith Zaffar All a step-brother of his. The deceased is said to have informed them that his condition had deteriorated and he was feeling sick in the stomach after his wife the present petitioner served him food. Ghulam Mustafa is stated to have advised the deceased to get himself treated at home and went away alongwith his companions. Subsequently on 24-1-1984 complainant Zaffar Ali was informed that the deceased had expired. He reported the matter to the police on the same day but no F.I.R. Was immediately recorded and only an entry in the Roznamcha was made and the body of the deceased was sent for post-mortem examination under section 174, Cr.P.C. On receiving a report from the office of the Chemical Examiner that the viscera of the deceased were found to contain insecticide, a regular first information report was registered on 12-4-1984. The petitioner was granted bail by the learned Additional Sessions Judge II, Muzaffargarh, by his order dated 11-6-1984, mainly on the ground that no direct evidence was available to show that there was any conspiracy or participation in the commission of the offence on the part of the petitioner. It was further observed that the petitioner being a woman her case fell under the proviso to section 497, Cr.P.C. And there were circumstances, which required further inquiry into the guilt of the petitioner.
2. Being aggrieved by this order the complainant moved the Lahore High Court, for the cancellation of bail granted to the petitioner and the three others co-accused. However, the application was not pressed against Mst. Sardar and Amir Bux, and was, therefore, dismissed in respect to them. The learned Additional Sessions Judge II was also not persuaded to cancel the bail granted to the alleged paramour Malik Niaz Ahmad but by order dated 29-10-1984, he cancelled the bail granted to the petitioner, on the ground that the occurrence had taken place in the house of the petitioner's parents and that the deceased had made a dying declaration implicating the petitioner as well as that no medical aid was provided by the petitioner to the deceased when he was seriously ill.
3. After hearing the learned counsel for the petitioner and the State, we feel that the allegations against the co-accused Malik Niaz Ahmad and the petitioner proceed on similar evidence and there is hardly any distinction between their cases. On the reasoning adopted by the learned Additional Sessions Judge II there was no justification to interfere with the order of bail granted to the petitioner, particularly when there was an additional ground of her being a woman. We would not like to make any observation on the merits of the case but upon perusing the impugned order we feel that the petitioner was entitled to continue on bail.
4. In the result, we convert this petition into appeal and allow the same. The petitioner shall be released on the same terms as ordered by the learned Additional Sessions Judge 11, Muzaffargarh, on 11-6-1984.