Citation Name: 2025 PCrLJ 1115 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDHBookmark this Case NOor Agha vs State S

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Citation Name: 2025 PCrLJ 1115 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDHBookmark this Case NOor Agha VS State S. 497(1), third and fourth provisos---Penal Code (XLV of 1860), Ss. 302(b), 364, 109 & 34---Qatl-i-amd, abduction, abetment, common intention---Bail, dismissal of---Hardened, desperate or dangerous criminal---Allegations against the petitioner-accused was that he committed murder of the brother of complainant after abducting him---As per record, from the date of his arrest on 10.10.2022, the applicant had been in continuous detention for a period exceeding two years, and so far only 6 prosecution witnesses out of a list of 20 had been examined by the Trial Court---There were two exceptions to the grant of bail on the statutory ground of delay---First was in the third-proviso itself of S.497(1), Cr.P.C where delay in the trial had been occasioned by an act or omission of the accused or any other person acting on his behalf---Second exception was in the fourth-proviso where the accused was a previously convicted offender for an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life, or a hardened, desperate or dangerous criminal, or was accused of an act of terrorism punishable with death or imprisonment for life---Prosecution did not urge the first exception to the statutory ground of delay viz. that the delay had been occasioned by or on behalf of the applicant/accused---As regard the second exception, the criminal record of the applicant did not reveal any prior conviction, nor he was accused of any act of terrorism---However, it was contended by the prosecution that the applicant was nonetheless 'a hardened, desperate or dangerous criminal' within the meaning of the fourth-proviso to S.497(1), Cr.P.C.---Charge of abetting, abduction and murder was indeed a charge for a grave offence---Applicant was the brother of the principal accused, and it was the information divulged by the applicant during interrogation that unraveled the crime---It was alleged by the prosecution that the applicant confessed during interrogation that he was part of the plan to commit the offence and that he was also riding in another car that accompanied the vehicle in which the victim was abducted---Extra-judicial confession of the applicant by itself was of no evidentiary value, but then he led the police to the spot where the victim was shot, from where two empties of 9mm firearm were recovered---As per the Forensic Science Laboratory Report, those empties matched the pistol recovered from the principal accused---In such circumstances, the applicant fell within the bracket of 'a hardened, desperate or dangerous criminal' within the meaning of the fourth-proviso to S.497(1), Cr.P.C. which was an exception to the right of bail on the statutory ground of delay under the third-proviso---Therefore, the bail application was dismissed, in circumstances.

Citation Name: 2025 PCrLJ 1115 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDHBookmark this Case NOor Agha vs State S — 2025 PCrLJ 1115 KARACHI-HIGH-COURT-SINDH

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