SHC dismisses bail application in murder case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has dismissed the bail application of a man in a murder case. The applicant, Husnain Nawaz, was booked by the Malir Cantonment police for murdering Ghulam Mustafa.

According to the prosecution, the complainant, who is the slain man’s brother, stated that his brother Mustafa went along with the applicant and Taufeeq in a vehicle on September 10, 2024, and later his body was found near a poultry farm.

The applicant’s counsel submitted that the complainant did not implicate the applicant in his verbal statement before the police but on the next day, he registered an FIR and implicated the applicant as a suspect.

He submitted that there was no direct evidence against the applicant and alleged extra-judicial confession was inadmissible in the Qanun-e-Shahadat Order 1984. He submitted that a pistol and car belonging to the late father of the applicant had been foisted upon the applicant in order to strengthen the case. He said that there was a negative DNA report and as far as the FSL report was concerned, it had been managed by police.

An additional prosecutor general and the complainant’s counsel opposed the grant of bail to the applicant on the ground that there was last seen evidence against the applicant and his brother Taufeeq as they had taken away the deceased man in their car and later on his dead body was recovered.

They said that during the investigations, the applicant was arrested and on his pointation, the crime weapon and car were recovered. They said police also recovered blood from the car and sent a sample for the DNA test, which was positive. Moreover, shoes of the deceased were also found in the car on the pointation of the applicant.

They said that the alleged offence was heinous and carried capital punishment, therefore, the applicant was not entitled for grant of concession of bail. During a recent hearing, a single bench of the SHC comprising Justice Shamsuddin Abbasi observed after hearing the arguments and perused the material available on record that no doubt, the alleged offence was unseen but there was last seen evidence.

The high court observed that during the investigation, the applicant was arrested and on his pointation, the weapon and car used in the commission of the alleged offence, which belonged to the late father of the applicant, were recovered.

The bench observed that the investigation officer had sent the crime weapon for FSL and the report was positive, besides the IO also obtained blood from the car and sent a sample for DNA test that had matched with the DNA of the deceased man.

The SHC observed that the motive had also come on surface against the applicant on the issue of honour killing and sufficient material was available on record to connect the applicant with the alleged offence, which carried capital punishment, and the instant case came within the prohibitory clause of the Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The bench observed that no case for grant of post-arrest bail was made out and dismissed the bail application.