This is an application for post-arrest bail by Muhammad Ashiq in a case registered against him and two others at Police Station, Nishatabad, District Faisalabad on 24th of August, 1984 under sections 302 and 452 read with section 34, P.P.C. For the murder of Muhammad Iqbal.
2. The occurrence is alleged to have taken place on 24th of August, 1984, at about 6-15 p.m. The house of the deceased situate in Chak No. 203/R.B., village Malakpur about 6 K.m. Away from the Police Station, Nishatabad. It was reported at the Police Station on the same date at 8-30 p.m. By Abdur Razaq brother of the deceased.
3. The case as set up in the F.I.R. Briefly is that on 28th of August, 1984, at 6-15 p.m. The petitioner armed with a Sota and his co-accused, namely, Shafaqat Ali, carrying a Chhuri and Muhammad Rafique, empty-handed, trespassed into the house of the deceased by scaling over its wall.
Muhammad Rafique raised a Lalkara exhorting the petitioner and his co-accused to kill Muhammad Iqbal and Abdur Razaq. Shafaqat Ali gave a Chhuri blow to the deceased on the left side of his chest. The petitioner dealt a Sota blow on the head of the deceased. The deceased fell to the ground. Abdur Razaq and Mst. Rafiqan stepped forward to save the deceased. They too were given Sota blows by the petitioner. Muhammad Nawaz and Muhammad Yasin attempted to intervene but Shafaqat Ali threatened to kill them if they came near. The deceased succumbed to the injuries at the spot.
4. As regards the motive, it is alleged that sometime before the occurrence the petitioner had misbehaved with Mst. Rafiqan mother of the deceased. When Abdur Razaq and Muhammad Yasin reprimanded him, an altercation ensued between them. They grappled with each other. The petitioner threw a stone hitting Muhammad Yasin on his nose. Abdur Razaq and Muhammad Yasin caught hold of the petitioner and gave him beating. The petitioner ran into the house of one Sultan, a neighbourer, hurling a threat that he would avenge his insult. A short while thereafter, the petitioner and his co-accused on the one side and the complainant party on the other exchanged abuses. As a sequel of this incident, the petitioner and his co-accused allegedly launched the attack.
5. It is contended on behalf of the petitioner that there was no previous animosity between the parties and the occurrence flared up without any premeditation on a trivial dispute and, therefore, the principle of vicarious liability is not attracted and that since the injury alleged to have been inflicted on the deceased by the petitioner with a Sota has been declared as simple, he is entitled to bail. The learned counsel for the State has not been able to controvert these contentions. In the circumstances this application is accepted and the petitioner is admitted to bail in the sum of Rs 20,000 with one surety in the like amount to the satisfaction of the Assistant Commissioner, Faisalabad.