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(On appeal from an order of the Lahore High Court, Lahore, dated 3‑5‑1971, in Criminal Miscellaneous No. 1 of 1971, Criminal Appeal NQ. 200 of 1971).

Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898),

S. 426‑Bail pending appeal‑High Court refusing bail to convicts sentenced to five years' R. L‑Contention that High Court not justified in refusing bail as by the time appeal may be taken up for hearing convicts would have served out their whole sentence‑Held, normally in short sentence cases appeal disposed of within a year‑Petition for Special Leave to Appeal, against order of High Court, refused but petitioner held at liberty to file fresh petition for bail if case not taken up within a year.

K. H. Khurshid, Advocate Supreme Court instructed by Rana Maqbool Ahmad Qadri, Advocate‑on‑Record for Petitioners.

Nemo for the State.

Date of hearing : 30th June 1971.

HAMOODUR RAHMAN, C. J.

‑This is a petition for special leave to appeal from an order of the High Court, Lahore, refusing bail to the petitioners who have been convicted by a Section 30 Magistrate under sections 326/34 and 323/34, P. P. C. and sen tenced to five years' rigorous imprisonment under section 326/34, P. P. C. The appeal of the petitioners has been admitted for hearing and directed to be heard at Bahawalpur Circuit.

Learned counsel appearing in support of the petition con tends that the High Court did not exercise its discretion judicially in refusing bail after admitting the appeal because having regard to the present congestion of work in the High Court, by the time, this appeal comes on for hearing, the petitioners will have served out practically the whole of their sentence.

This petition is barred by 14 days and the reason given for the delay is that the petitioners' brother who was looking after this case had a mild heart‑attack for which he was advised three weeks complete rest. In support of this illness a medical certificate is also filed.

If there have been any merit in this application for special leave we might have on this ground condoned the delay, but we are satisfied that this application must fail on merits. The petitioners have been sentenced to five years' rigorous imprison ment and there is no reason to think that their appeal will not be disposed of much before the expiry of their term of sentence. We have no reason to doubt that the High Court will give priority to these short sentence cases as, normally, criminal appeals should be disposed of within a year or two. In the circumstances, we are not in a position to say that the High Court exercised its discretion improperly in refusing bail. This petition is, accordingly, dismissed on merits. But, if the appeal is not disposed of within one year the petitioners will be at liberty to apply again to the High Court for bail.

Leave refused.

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