Murder case: Court dismisses bail application

Suspect allegedly shot and killed a teenager who came to collect a payment.


Our Correspondent April 21, 2014
Suspect allegedly shot and killed a teenager who came to collect a payment. PHOTO: FILE

KARACHI: A district and sessions court dismissed the pre-arrest bail application of a minor who was accused of killing a teenager on Tuesday.

While dismissing the pre-arrest bail application, the district East additional district and sessions judge, Chaudry Wasim Iqbal, recalled the earlier interim pre-arrest bail granted to the suspect, Muhammad Athar Sanjrani.

According to the prosecution, 19-year-old Sajjad Ali was killed when he had gone to Sanjrani's house to receive the amount due on a laptop bought by the suspect on January 16. The prosecution added that the suspect was angered by the teenager and shot at him, killing him on the spot.

Subsequently, a case, No 12/2014, under Sections 302 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code which deal with intentional murder was registered against the suspect at the Bahadurabad police station.

During arguments, Sanjrani's lawyer reiterated the grounds pleaded in the bail application that the suspect is a minor. He added that a delayed FIR was lodged and prior to lodging of the case, the police officials had already carried out inquest proceedings.

The lawyer further said that the suspect, along with his family, were not present in Karachi at the time of the incident. He produced the leave application of the suspect's father, a receipt of a rented car and hotel booking in Sukkur for the period of January 15 to January 17.

While rebutting the arguments, the complainant's lawyer contented that the interim concession granted to Sanjrani was misused and added that the suspect falsely procured the documents to establish an alibi and mislead the prosecution case.

The prosecution produced the mobile phone records of the suspect's father and brother, which showed that their phones were being used in Karachi between the dates of January 15 and January 18.

The prosecution opposed the bail application on the grounds that the suspect was named in the FIR and a specific role was assigned to him. He further contended that the suspect was involved in an offence that fell under the prohibitory clause of Section 497 (when bail may be taken in ease of a non-bailable offence) of the Criminal Procedure Code.

After hearing the arguments and looking at the record, the judge noted that Sanjrani had taken a specific plea of being a minor and had also provided copies of educational certificates that claimed that he was under the age of 18. However, the judge noted that the age determination exam conducted by the investigation officer determined that Sanjrani was over the age of 18.

The law

"Provided that a child of the age of fifteen years or above is arrested, the court may refuse to grant bail if there are reasonable grounds to believe that such child is involved in an offence, which in its opinion is serious, heinous, gruesome, brutal, sensational in character or shocking to public morality or he is a previous convict of an offence punishable with death or imprisonment for life," states the proviso of Section 10 of the Juvenile Justice System Ordinance, 2000. The judge stated the same in the order and declined bail. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 21st, 2014.

COMMENTS

Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ