' A case stands registered against the petitioner vide F.I.R. No,112/94, dated 22-11-1994 under section 364/302/201/109/34, P.P.C. At Police Station Maroot for the murder of Mst. Khatoon Bibi.
2. The prosecution story as given in the F.I.R. Lodged by one Khadim Hussain briefly stated is that he was married to Mst. Khatoon Bibi deceased. After four/five months of the marriage, she developed illicit relations with one Liaqat Ali; in consequence of which a case vide F.I.R. No,158/94 under section 16, Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979 at Police Station Maroot was registered. However, said Mst. Khatoon Bibi was returned to him through Punchayat and the case was cancelled. The afore-referred Liaqat filed a habeas petition in the High Court wherein Mst.
Khatoon Bibi was to be produced pursuant to an order of the High Court, dated 20-111994. On 18-11- 1994, complainant's uncle Zahoor Ahmad told him and his father that he has to go to Bahawalpur to consult a lawyer in connection with the habeas petition and therefore, he was taking Mst.
Khatoon Bibi alongwith him.. Zahoor Ahmad accompanied by Mst. Khatoon Bibi left for Bahawalpur on a motor-cycle. On 20-11-1994, the complainant and his father went to the High Court but his uncle Zahoor Ahmad and Mst. Khatoon Bibi did not appear. They went to the lawyer and he too showed his lack of knowledge about both of them. The case in the High Court was adjourned to 24- 11-1994. The complainant went in search of Mst. Khatoon Bibi but without success. Meanwhile Zahoor Ahmad petitioner came back and when the complainant asked him about Mst. Khatoon Bibi, he could not give any satisfactory reply. The complainant expressed his suspicion that Mst.
Khatoon Bibi has been done to death by Zahoor Ahmad.
3. During investigation, the police recorded statements of Khadim Hussain, Manzoor Ahmad (brother of Zahoor accused), Falak Sher and Allah Ditta. All of them deposed that they saw Mst.
Khatoon Bibi going alongwith Zahoor Ahmad on a motor-cycle on 18-11-1994. On 31-12-1994, the police recorded the statement of Allah Yar who stated that Zahoor Ahmad was his friend. He came to his house one and a half months ago alongwith Mst. Khatoon Bibi and Khadim Hussain. Zahoor Ahmad told him that there was a dispute in the family on account of which Mst. Khatoon Bibi was to live at his house for some time. He further deposed that Mst. Khatoon Bibi was kept in a room and she was always under surveillance. On the fateful day when Allah Yar came back after his daily work of milk selling, his wife Mst. Sahib Khatoon told him that as she went to the room of Mst.
Khatoon Bibi to give breakfast to her and Zahoor Ahmad, she was told by Zahoor Ahmad that Mst.
Khatoon Bibi had died the previous night on account of severe pain in her abdomen. Zahoor Ahmad asked Allah Yar to sit near the dead body so that he could arrange for some wagon for transportation of the same. He came back in the afternoon and told Allah Yar that the dead body would have to be taken near the canal as the Wagon Driver expressed his inability to cross the said canal. Thereupon, the dead body was taken to the canal but no Wagon was standing there, instead Zahoor Ahmad tide both ends of the dead body with two pitchers, wrapped it in a woollen cloth and threw it inside the canal. While doing this, he told Allah Yar that Mst. Khatoon Bibi had illicit relations with some one and she deserved the end which she had met.
4. The police also recorded statements of Mst. Sahib Khatoon and Akbar All who corroborated the statement of Allah Yar P.W. After the statements of the afore-referred witnesses, the police went to the spot where the dead body was allegedly thrown and found that the canal was one acre wide and 9/10 feet deep and the water was flowing. The dead body therefore, could not be recovered the same day when the statements of the witnesses were recorded. The police had to wait for a few days and ultimately when the water level came down to one foot, on 22-1-1995 when police entered the said canal and found that the dead body was lying under a heap of sand tied with two pitchers and wrapped in a woollen cloth.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioner has prayed for bail on the following grounds:--
(i) that the was lodged after a delay of five days;
(ii) that incriminating statement of Allah Yar P.W. Was recorded after several days of the lodging of the F.I.R;
(iii) that the petitioner is not connected with the motive part of the prosecution story;
(iv) that the prosecution case basically consists of circumstantial evidence and in such a situation, this Court has released the accused on bail.
' Learned counsel relies on Rifaqat Ali v. The State 1994 PCr.LJ 379, Darhoon and 4 others v. The State 1984 PCr.LJ 3218 and Zulfiqar v. The State 1990 PCr.LJ 938.
6. Learned counsel for the State assisted by learned counsel appearing on behalf of father of Mst.
Khatoon Bibi have opposed the prayer for bail and submitted as follows:--
(i) that it is in evidence that Zahoor petitioner had taken away Mst. Khatoon Bibi and ultimately done to death in the house of Allah Yar;
(ii) that on 24-11-1990, Mst. Khatoon Bibi was to be produced in the High Court and Zahoor petitioner had taken her away from the house of her parents for the said purpose and he did not produce her in Court which shows that he wanted to murder her which he did.
' Learned counsel relies on Shahzaman and 2 others v. The State and another PLD 1994 SC 65, Qadu and 3 others v. The State 1994 SCM R 699 and Bashir Ahmad and 2 others v. The State 1994 SCM R 1147 to contend that as the petitioner is involved in a case which falls in the prohibitory clause of section 497, Cr.P.C. Therefore, he is not entitled to the bail at this stage.
7. I have heard learned counsel for the parties and have also gone through the record.
8. The prosecution case primarily hinges on circumstantial evidence. During investigation, it came to light that complainant of this case who claims to be husband of Mst. Khatoon Bibi on the basis of some oral Nikah was privy to the plan of abduction and murder of Mst. Khatoon Bibi. The statements of Khadim Hussain, Manzoor Ahmad, Falak Sher and Allah Ditta who have no enmity with the petitioner are to the effect that they saw Zahoor Ahmad petitioner taking Mst. Khatoon Bibi on a motor-cycle and thereafter she was never seen. The statements of these witnesses stand corroborated by Allah Yar with whom the petitioner had relations as they shared the same business i,e, milk selling. He and his wife have stated that Zahoor Ahmad brought Mst. Khatoon Bibi to their house. She was kept there four/five days and ultimately killed one night. Allah Yar is also a witness of the manner in which the dead body of Mst. Khatoon Bibi was thrown in to the desert canal. The dead body could not be immediately recovered despite the pointation of Allah Yar P.W.
And the reason for this delay is given by the S.H.O./Investigating Officer in Zimni, dated 9-2-1995.
According to him, the search for the dead body from the said canal was delayed as the canal was 9/10 feet deep and fairly wide. In this view of the matter, the annual closure of the canal was awaited. The recovery of the dead body was made at the pointation of Zahoor Ahmad and Allah Yar which was witnessed by Muhammad Sadiq, Muhammad Akram and Muhammad Murad. As the recovery was delayed by almost two months, only the bones, two pitchers with which the dead body was tied, the cloth in which the dead body was wrapped and the clothes of the deceased were recovered. These articles were duly identified by Allah Yar, Muhammad Sadiq father and Mst.
Bibi mother of the deceased. Even these witnesses are neither biased nor inimical towards the petitioner to falsely implicate him.
' There is yet another aspect of the matter. A petition bearing Criminal Miscellaneous No,311/H of 1994 was filed by Liaqat Ali for the recovery of Mst. Khatoon Bibi claiming himself to be her husband.
During hearing of that petition, the father of the alleged detenue appeared in Court on 20-11-1994 to state that Mst. Khatoon Bibi had been taken away from his house for production before the High Court by her uncle i,e, Zahoor Ahmad petitioner who was also respondent No,3 in that habeas petition. He further deposed that eversince then, the whereabouts of her daughter were not known.
In view of the statement made by father of Mst. Khatoon Bibi deceased, this Court directed S.H.O., Police Station Maroot to record his statement and ensure that the detenue is produced in Court on the next date of hearing i,e, 24-11-1994. S.H.O., Police Station Maroot submitted that a case has been registered under section 364, P.P.C. On the complaint of Khadim Hussain. He requested for some time to recover the alleged detenue. However, on 15-12-1994, the S.H.O./Investigating Officer appeared in Court to state that Mst. Khatoon Bibi had been killed and that the investigation was in progress. Thus, prima facie it seems that the petitioner alongwith his co-accused had murdered Mst. Khatoon Bibi deceased as they apprehended that Mst. Khatoon Bibi would make a statement in favour of Liaqat Ali who had filed the habeas petition for her recovery and had claimed that Mst.
Khatoon was his wife.
9. For what has been discussed above, there are reasonable grounds to believe that petitioner is involved in the murder of Mst. Khatoon Bibi which offence falls in the prohibitory clause of section 497, Cr.P.C. The petition has no merit which is dismissed.