' Petitioners seek bail in a counter-version recorded at the instance of Mst. Rehana Bibi wife of Dilawar in F.I.R. No,121 of 1999, dated 22-3-1999, registered with Police Station, Manga Mandi, Lahore.
2. The story of the prosecution narrated in F.I.R. 121 of 1999 authored by Murad Ali is that on 21-3-1999 daughter of Dilawar son of Niaz Ali fell in a well outside their house and died. On 22-3-1999 at 2-00 p.m., Dilawar, father of the deceased girl, wanted to close the well and for that purpose dropped earth and bricks which was objected to by his elder brother Sain Niaz Ali who was abused by Dilawar Hussain, in the meanwhile, Dilawar Hussain went to his house and brought out an iron Sunbal accompanied by Sarwar son of Naik also armed with iron Sunbal, Dari son of Shaukat armed with bat, Hanif son of Ahmad Din armed with hatchet and Kali son of Naik armed with gun single bore and raised Lalkara to teach a lesson to Niaz Ali, his brother. On hearing the hue and cry, Nazeer son of Niaz Ali, Zeenat wife of Zulfiqar also reached the place of occurrence. Kali hit Murad Ali complainant with the butt of his gun on his head; Sarwar hit Zeenat with the iron Sunbal on her forehead, Hanif, Dari and Dilawar beat Nazeer on his forehead and on left ear. The neighbourers came and separated them. Case under section 337-A(i)(ii) read with sections 148 and 149, P.P.0 .
Was registered.
3. On 23-3-1999 counter-version at the instance of Mst. Rehana Bibi wife of Dilawar was recorded in which she stated that on 21-3-1999 her daughter aged four years fell in the abandoned well and died although her other daughter told her that Aksi fell in the well due to the push by Jaffar son of Niaz but since they did not see the occurrence they did not lodge any report. Many people from the village came to condole the death of her daughter and advised that in order to avoid any recurrence of similar accident the well should be closed. On 22-3-1999 after attending to the well- wishers they made a programme to cover the well and when Sain Niaz Ali came to know about this he came to the spot armed with leg of a cot accompanied by Shabbir his son armed with a Dang, Ramzan alias Kali son of Murad Ali armed with a Sariya, and Iqbal son of Niaz armed With Sota, Zafar son of Niaz Ali armed with hatchet, Murad empty-handed and Moharram Ali armed with Danda who gave beatings to Mst. Rehana Bibi, Mst. Hafeezan and Siddique son of Ahmad Din due to which they were injured. On the intervention of the neighbourers they were rescued.
4. It is in this counter-version that the petitioners are involved and they seek anticipatory bail.
5. Learned counsel for the petitioners argued that the occurrence took place on 22-3-1999 whereas counter-version was lodged on 23-3-1999 at 10-45 p.m. And that the injured Mst. Rehana Bibi, Hafeezan and Muhammad Siddique got their medical reports from a private doctor without associating the police; that the parties are inter-related, Dilawar is the husband of Mst. Rehana Bibi, and brother of Sain Niaz Ali, therefore, the matter was a family affair which is likely to be patched up. Conversely learned State Counsel opposed the grant of extraordinary relief of bail before arrest and stated that the recoveries had to be made from the culprits.
6. I have considered the arguments .Of respective counsel and gone through the documents on the file. The Police Officer who came to assist the State Counsel insisted that they have to arrest the culprits in the counter-version for effecting recoveries as the recoveries were effected from the culprits of F.I.R. No,121 of 1999. Learned counsel has not been able to show that the counter-version is the result of any mala fides. It is true that the occurrence took place on 22-3-1999 and the counter-version was recorded on 23-3-1999, but the fact that Aksa daughter of Mst. Rehana Bibi had died by having fallen in the well and she was buried on that day when many people of the village assembled to offer condolences, delay was bound to take place which has been explained satisfactorily in the counter-version. Getting the medical certificates from a private doctor is also understandable as by that time the counter-version had not been recorded, therefore, intervention by the police was out of question; recoveries have to be made from the accused in the counter- version so as to enable the trial Court to have a clear picture during the trial as to who was the aggressor. I am not pursuaded to exercise my discretion to extend the relief of bail before arrest in a case where learned counsel failed to point out any mala fide on the part of the police or the complainant. Application is dismissed and interim bail granted is not confirmed.