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Petition for Special Leave to Appeal No. 49 of 1977, decided on 26th November, 1977.
(On appeal from the judgment and order of the Lahore High Court dated 21st January, 1977 in Cr. Misc. No. 3890/B of 1976).
-- Ss. 497 & 498-Bail-Contention that fatal shot being not attributed to petitioner, petitioner being found innocent by Investi gating Officer and considerable delay having been caused to trial of accused and trial of case likely to take place after long time, accused entitled to bail-Held : Petitioner being alleged to have joined unlawful assembly by arming himself with a gun question whether fatal shot attributed to him or not, immaterial-Investigat ing Officer though said to have found petitioner innocent yet petitioner's name appearing in Column 3 as a regular accused and not in Column 2-Delay although caused in trial of case, yet delay per se not a sufficient ground for grant of bail-Penal Code (XLV of 1860), S. 302/307/148/149.-[Delay].
Muhammad Rashid Chughtai, Advocate and 1qbal Ahmed Qureshi, Advocate-on-Record for Petitioner.
Nemo for the State.
Date of hearing : 26th November, 1977.
-The petitioner is aggrieved by the refusal of the Lahore High Court to enlarge him on bail in a case pending against him under sections 148, 302 and 307, P. P, C. read with section 149 thereof.
In the first information report recorded on the 22nd of May, 1975, it was alleged that the petitioner Baboo was a member of the unlawful assembly, that he was armed with a gun and he fired a shot which hit prosecution witness Nasibullah. During the course of the transaction in which Ibrahim was killed, it appears that a large number of persons en the complainant side were injured.
An earlier application filed by the petitioner for the grant of bail bad been dismissed by the High Court on 21st October, 1975. His second application was dismissed on the 21st of January 1977 for the reason that no new grounds had been made out.
It is submitted by Mr. Chughtai that the fatal shot is not attributed to the petitioner, that he was found innocent by the Investigating Officer, and that in any case there has been considerable delay in the trial of the case, which is not likely to take place for some time due to the pendency of a large number of cases in the Sessions Court.
As the allegation against the petitioner is that he had joined the unlawful assembly by arming himself with a gun, it is immaterial whether the fatal shot is attributed to him or not. Although the Investigation Officer is said to have found him innocent, yet the name of the petition was not shown in Column No. 2, but in Column No. 3 as a regular accused No benefit can, therefore, accrue to the petitioner on the basis of the opinion formed by the Investigating Officer during the investigation.
It is true that there has been delay in the trial of the case, but delay per se is not a sufficient ground for the grant of bail. We would accordingly dismiss this petition, but the petitioner may, if so advised, apply again to the appropriate Court in case there is inordinate delay in the commencement of the trial.
Petition dismissed.
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