MUHAMMAD EJAZ vs State art — 2021 SCMR 387 SUPREME-COURT

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MUHAMMAD EJAZ VS State art. 10-a---Criminal trial---Due process---Scope---accused was certainly entitled to "due process of law" and a meaningful opportunity to contest the indictment with a view to vindicate his position; the prosecution and its witnesses also deserved protection of law so as to prosecute the case with least inconvenience and without unnecessary hardship. Citation Name: 2021 SCMR 387 SUPREME-COURTBookmark this Case MUHAMMAD EJAZ VS State S. 497--- Penal Code (XLV of 1860), S. 337(2)(d)--- Qanun-e-Shahadat (10 of 1984), Art. 129(e)---Constitution of Pakistan, Art. 150---Shajjah-i-munaqqilah---Bail, refusal of---Re-examination of injured on orders of Magistrate---Findings of Medical Board---Whether such findings constituted a fresh ground for release of accused on bail---Held, that injured person was examined on the same day of the incident, and the medical officer noted as many as four injuries on his person and categorically ruled out possibility of their fabrication---Subsequently the accused moved the Area Magistrate for re-examination of the injured---Magistrate without affording opportunity of hearing to the injured or hearing the Law Officer present directed medical re-examination of injured by the Standing Medical Board---Magistrate hurriedly exercised ex-parte jurisdiction to the detriment of prosecution/injured in the face of vague and non-specific allegation---First medical examination was protected by statutory presumption of being genuine under Art. 129(e) of the Qanun-e-Shahadat, 1984 as well as under Art. 150 of the Constitution---Magistrate did not insist for tangible and sufficient grounds to plausibly justify exposure of a person already wronged to the inconvenience and embarrassment of a re-examination---Performance of the (second) medical board was no less dismal either; it miserably failed to take stock of findings recorded by the Chief Medical Officer---Members of the (second) medical board not only ignored the said findings, but they went a step further in their inconsequential opinion to add the possibility of a fall as well, a case never agitated even by the accused---Even otherwise, observation recorded during re-examination that possibility of fabrication/fall could not be ruled out was a judgment resting upon the brink of hypothetical possibility that by itself could not override positive findings earlier unanimously recorded by the medical officers who attended the injured---In such circumstances the hypothesis of fabrication/fall recorded in the re-examination did not constitute a fresh ground for releasing accused on bail---Petition for leave to appeal was dismissed and leave was refused.

MUHAMMAD EJAZ vs State art — 2021 SCMR 387 SUPREME-COURT

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