1. The petitioner is involved in a case F.I.R. No,530 dated 13-10-1995 for an offence under section 302/34, P.P.C. registered at Police Station R.A. Bazar Rawalpindi.
2. 2.The allegation against the petitioner is that he committed the murder of Mst. Zainab Siddique, his step-mother while she was asleep in her house. The motive behind this incident was the revenge of the petitioner for the marriage of the deceased with his father.
3. 3.The bail is pressed on the ground that the occurrence took place during the dead of night and without any eye-witnesses; that the petitioner was minor at the relevant time of occurrence; that his case does not fall within the definition of Qatl-e-Amd' liable to Qisas under section 306 P.P.C.; that the only evidence collected against the petitioner is joint extra judicial confession which was recorded after twenty-three days of the alleged occurrence; that the post-mortem report negates the prosecution story and the alleged recovery of Chhuri from the petitioner was not stained with blood.
4. 4.The bail is opposed on the grounds that the petitioner is specifically named in the F.I.R.; that the minority of the petitioner cannot come in the way of believing him guilty as the offence of. murder was heinous offence; that if there is any contradiction between the ocular account and the medical evidence, it cannot be seen at the bail stage; that the offence alleged against the petitioner falls within the prohibitory clause of section 497, Cr.P.C.
5. 5.In the police record, the age of the petitioner is mentioned as 17/18 years which means that the police is not definite about the exact age of the petitioner. According to school leaving certificate, Government Inter College, Poonch, the date of birth of the petitioner is 3-5-1980 which shows that on the relevant date, his age was fifteen years, five months and ten days. The definitions of an 'adult' and a 'minor' are given in clauses (a) and (i) of section 299 P.P.C., which are reproduced as under:--
(a) "adult means a person who has attained, the age of eighteen years; or, being a female the age of sixteen years, or has attained puberty whichever is earlier".
(i) "minor" means a person who is not an adult".
6. 6.In the circumstances, the petitioner seems to be a minor for the purpose of offence under section 302 P.P.C. and as such, his case falls under section 306 P.P.C. i,e, Qatl-e-Amd not liable to Qisas, the punishment of which is given in section 308 P.P.C. which in case of proof of guilty is only Diyat. No doubt, the second proviso of section 308, P.P.C. a minor who had attained sufficient maturity so as to be able to realise the consequences of his act, may also be punished with imprisonment of either description which may extend to 14 years as Ta'zir. But the determination of attainment of sufficient maturity can be made at trial after recording evidence hence, it is a question of further inquiry. In' the case of Sajjad Ahmad v. Muhammad Amir and another (Cr1.
7. Appeal No,372 of 1994, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has observed:- "The learned Judge in the High Court took note of the fact that under sections 306 and 308, P.P.C., capital punishment cannot be awarded to a minor even if he is found guilty of murder although under the second proviso of subsection (1) of section 308, P.P.C., he may also be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to fourteen years as Ta'zir if at the time of committing Qatl-eAmd the minor offender had attained sufficient maturity to realise the consequences of his act. The learned Judge rightly observed that his aspect of the matter could only be determined during the trial on the basis of evidence adduced by the parties and was, therefore, a case of further inquiry. Thus, visualized the discretion exercised by the learned Judge in allowing bail to the respondent under the first proviso to section 497, Cr.P.C. is not open to exception."
7. The case of the petitioner is also similar to the case in which the above observation was made.
8. As such, he is granted bail subject to his furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs,50,000 with two sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of learned Trial Court.
9. Copy Dasti on payment of usual charges.