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Criminal Miscellaneous No. 2308/B of 1976, decided on lot July 1976.

‑‑‑ S. 497(2)‑.Bail ‑"Sufficient grounds for further inquiry"‑Accused's plea‑Not enough, by alone, to bring case within scope of S. 497(2) Sufficient ground for further inquiry‑May exist if accused's plea finds support from other circumstances of case or if statements of some of witnesses contrary to accusation levelled against accused‑No such supporting circumstances existing. no "sufficient grounds for further inquiry", field, existed.‑[Bail].

S. 497‑Bail‑Petitioner and his co‑accused allegedly pursuing deceased to house of another where deceased sought shelter but accused entering such house by scaling over walls, petitioner and another accused holding deceased with hands and thereby facilitating principal accused to stab deceased‑Case, held, not fit for bail in circumstances.

M. Rashid Ahmad for Petitioner.

M. A. Zafar for the State.

Shabbir Ahmad and three others are accused of the murder of Muhammad Akram and for having murderously assaulted Nazir Ahmad. The case was registered against them on 24‑I1‑1975 at Police Station, City Gujranwala.

2. It is alleged that as the accused were passing in front of the house of the deceased, while talking among themselves, they used abusive language. The deceased stopped them from the use of such language. Thereafter, they abused each other and an altercation took place. The deceased was threatened with dire consequences. In the afternoon the same day, the petitioner and his co‑accused armed with sharp‑edged weapons lay in ambush. When Muhammad Akram deceased passed that way, he was attacked by them. In order to save his life, he ran into the house of Faqir Hussain. The accused scaled over the wall of Faqir Hussain's house and pursued him there. The petitioner and Khalid accused were alleged to have caught hold of the deceased by his arms when their co‑accused inflicted knife blow in his chest as a result of which he died later.

3. Learned counsel for the petitioner contended that the case was foisted against the petitioner because of his friendship with Muhammad Munir accused who has been involved in this case because the deceased had first cut jokes with Munir's sister‑in‑law (brother's wife) upon which the present occurrence took place then and there. This was the position taken up by the accused during investigation. The contention that the defence plea created sufficient grounds for further inquiry into the guilt of the accused cannot be upheld, because the plea of the accused alone is not enough to bring a case within the scope of subsection (2) of section 497, Cr. P. C. for there must be "sufficient grounds" for further inquiry I.e. if the plea of the accused finds support from the other circumstances of the case or there are statements of some of the witnesses contrary to the accusation against the accused then it may justifiably be argued that there are sufficient grounds for further inquiry. In the instant case, except for the plea taken up during the investigation, there are no other supporting circumstances.

4. It was next contended that the petitioner has only been attribute the role of holding the deceased by the arms. 1 have considered this aspect of the matter. The petitioner and his co‑accused were alleged to have pursued the deceased to the house of Faquir Hussain where the deceased took B shelter and the accused made their entry by scaling over the wall of the said house. Thereafter the petitioner and Khalid accused gripped the deceased thus facilitated the principal offender who stabbed him. Under these circumstances, I do not consider it a fit case for bail. This petition is, therefore, dismissed.

S. A. H. Petition dismissed.

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