SHC dismisses bail plea of man in wife murder case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed the bail application of a man who was arrested on charges of murdering his wife in DHA.

Qasim Anwar was booked by the Darakhshan police on suspicion of murdering his wife Itrat Hasan. According to the prosecution, the applicant tortured to death his wife in DHA Phase VI on March 14, 2023.

The applicant’s counsel submitted that he was innocent and had not committed the alleged offence. According to the counsel, Anwar had falsely been implicated in the case by the Darakhshan police with mala fide intention and ulterior motives as there was no one from the family of the deceased woman who had come forward to lodge an FIR.

The counsel submitted that the deceased wife of the applicant was attacked by unidentified persons when she was alone at home and she got severe injuries. He added that the call detail record (CDR) submitted by police also supported the version of the applicant. The counsel submitted that the deceased woman filed a family suit for dissolution of marriage by way of Khula against her previous husband Hassan Abbas with the narration that her earlier husband was short tempered and psychological patient who used to maltreat her.

The lawyer stated that a family court granted Khula in the case on July 5, 2022, and the possibility of her previous husband’s involvement in the attack could not be ruled out. The counsel also relied upon the CDR of the applicant stating that on the time of the attack, he was not present at the place of the incident.

A deputy prosecutor general assisted by the investigation officer contended that the applicant had committed the murder by beating the victim cruelly, leading to her death. The prosecutor submitted that there was enough evidence on record linking the applicant with the crime and since the offence committed was punishable by death, the bail application should be dismissed.

A single bench of the high court headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon after tentative assessment of the record observed that the record revealed that the deceased women died inside a flat and allegations had been levelled against the applicant that he caused severe injuries to her that eventually resulted in her death. Later, her body was brought to a hospital.

The high court observed that it had also been alleged that the applicant had multiple injuries on his body and a medical certificate regarding that was issued by a medico-legal officer (MLO) on March 15, 2023, whereas the medico-legal certificate of Itrat was also issued on the same day stating that she had been brought dead with multiple injuries in different parts of her body.

The high court observed that the postmortem report of the deceased, explicitly showed that more than 10 injuries were caused to her and the MLO opined that the death occurred due to failure of vital centres of the brain leading to cardio-respiratory failure caused by multiple impacts on the skull with hard and blunt objects.

The SHC observed that the CDR report also supported the case of the prosecution. The bench observed that such evidence required deep analysis, which could only be possible if the complainant and the MLO were examined by the trial court in terms of the charge framed by the trial court.

The SHC observed that it ordinarily did not interfere with the progression of the trial to avoid discussion and remarks on the merits of the case and it had been long settled by the Supreme Court that when the trial was likely to commence or begin, bail application should not be decided on merit, and the matter be left to the trial court because it may prejudice the case of either party.

Keeping in view the above facts, the SHC dismissed the bail application with the direction to the trial court to record statements of the witnesses within two months positively, and the applicant shall be free to move a fresh bail application before the trial court after examination of the two witnesses if he brought his case within the ambit of the Section 497(2) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.