2021 S C M R 352

[Supreme Court of Pakistan]

Present: Umar Ata Bandial and Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, JJ

MOZAMMAL ABBAS---Petitioner

Versus

The STATE and others---Respondents

Criminal Petition No. 766-L of 2020, decided on 1st January, 2021.

(On appeal against the order dated 15.07.2020 passed by the Lahore High Court, Lahore in Criminal Misc. No. 31963 of 2020)

Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898)---

----S. 498---Penal Code (XLV of 1860), Ss. 302, 109 & 34---Qatl-i-amd, abetment, common intention--- Pre-arrest bail petition, dismissal of---Accused, who was denied pre-arrest bail by the High Court, did not appear before the Supreme Court for present hearing---Supreme Court dismissed the present bail petition for non-prosecution with observations and directions with respect to duty of police to protect the community and arrest those fugitives who had not been arrested by police despite rejection of their pre-arrest bails by the High Court and Sessions Courts.

Report submitted by the Additional Inspector General (Investigation) before the Supreme Court showed that out of the total 669 accused whose pre-arrest bail applications had been dismissed by the High Court and by the Sessions Courts, 604 had been arrested whereas 65 were still at large.

According to the report submitted by the concerned District Police Officer (DPO), numerous raids were conducted to arrest the accused of the present case. The DPO informed the Court that according to credible information there was likelihood that within couple of hours, the accused would be taken into custody. Supreme Court observed that the progress sought by it had duly been addressed by the Senior Police Officer, which seemed to be reasonable; that however, the data presented to Court showed that before the Supreme Court took cognizance of the matter, the police did not take any serious action to complete the process of law by apprehending the accused, whose bail applications had been rejected by the courts of law; that it seemed there was some unseen pressure on the police or prima facie it was the laxity on the part of the police to perform its duty in accordance with law; that the job of the police was to protect the community by fighting and preventing crime, as well as maintaining law and order; that it was the police which strived to keep the community safe by reducing the fear of crime and improving the overall quality of life of the citizens; that the police was supposed to perform its duty independently without taking any external pressure.

Supreme Court directed that so far as the arrest of proclaimed offenders, who had not been arrested despite rejection of their pre-arrest bails, the Additional Inspector General shall complete the process of law and submit a report for the Court within one week, and that the concerned DPO shall also complete the process of law regarding the accused and submit a report within one week. Petition seeking post-arrest bail was dismissed for non-prosecution.

Imtiaz A. Shaukat, Advocate-on-Record for Petitioner.

Khurram Khan, Additional P.G., Fayyaz Ahmed, Additional I.G. (Inv.), Zulfiqar Ali, DPO Sargodha and Mushtaq Ahmed, S.I/I.O. for the State.

Zaheer Zulfiqar, Advocate Supreme Court for the Complainant.

Date of hearing: 1st January, 2021.

ORDER

SAYYED MAZAHAR ALI AKBAR NAQVI, J.---Through this petition under Article 185(3) of the Constitution, the petitioner seeks pre-arrest bail in case registered vide FIR No. 343/2019 dated 21.06.2019 under sections 302, 109, 34, P.P.C. at Police Station Kotmomin, District Sargodha. The same relief was denied to him by the learned Courts below.

2. This matter was earlier taken up on 28.12.2020 but neither the petitioner nor his counsel was present. We took cognizance of the matter that despite refusal of pre-arrest bail by the High Court almost five months ago, the petitioner is still at large and called a report from Additional Inspector General of Police (Investigation) showing the cases involving heinous offences in which despite rejection of pre-arrest bail, the accused persons are still fugitive from la w. The matter was again taken up on 30.12.2020 and again the petitioner did not turn up. On the said date, a report was submitted by the Additional Inspector General (Investigation) showing that out of the total 669 accused whose pre-arrest bail applications had been dismissed by the learned High Court and by the learned Sessions Courts, 401 accused have been arrested whereas 268 are still at large. The matter was ultimately adjourned for today with a direction to the Additional Inspector General to report the progress made for the arrest of such accused persons who have still not been apprehended. The DPO Sargodha was also directed to file report about the progress made in tracing the petitioner. Today also the petitioner is not present. The Additional Inspector General and the DPO Sargodha have submitted a detailed report. The report submitted by the Additional Inspector General (Investigation) shows that out of the total 669 accused, 604 have been arrested and 65 are Still at large. According to the report submitted by the DPO Sargodha, numerous raids were conducted to arrest the petitioner. The DPO has informed us that according to credible information there is likelihood that within couple of hours, the petitioner would be taken into custody. The progress sought by this Court has duly been addressed by the Senior Police Officer, which seems to be reasonable. However, the above data compels us to observe that before this Court took cognizance of the matter, the Police did not take any serious action to complete the process of law by apprehending the accused, whose bail applications had been rejected by the courts of law. It seems there was some unseen pressure on the Police or prima facie it was the laxity on the part of the Police to perform its duty in accordance with law. The job of the Police is to protect the community by fighting and preventing crime, as well as maintaining law and order. It is the Police who strive to keep the community safe by reducing the fear of crime and improving the overall quality of life of the citizens. The Police is supposed to perform its duty independently without taking any external pressure. So far as the arrest of proclaimed offenders, who have not been arrested despite rejection of pre-arrest bail, the Additional Inspector General is directed to complete the process of law and submit a report for our perusal in chambers within one week. The DPO Sargodha is also directed to complete the process of law regarding the petitioner and submit a report within one week for our perusal in chambers.

8(sic.) For what has been discussed above, this petition is dismissed for non-prosecution

MWA/M-2/SC Petition dismissed.