LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has held that it is a fundamental right of every accused to be provided with the grounds of arrest at the time of nabbing him.
The court allowed post arrest bails to Mst Shehnaz Bibi and Sumera Ilyas and observed that the police was paying no heed to the importance of Article 10 of the Constitution as well as to the directions already issued by this court.
It is alleged by the complainant Zahir Ali, father of the deceased, that in the wake of matrimonial disputes Anam Bibi was set ablaze by her in-laws on April 01, 2023, and due to these burn injuries, she took her last breath on the following day.
The court said both the petitioners admittedly are household ladies having no criminal antecedents, thus the benefit of first proviso to section 497(1) CrPC is required to be extended to them inflexibly.
The delay of about more than three months in the registration of FIR, which is not explained in any manner, is another factor which favours the petitioners for the grant of post-arrest bail, the court added.
The court allowing bail observed that the case of petitioners not only falls within the first proviso to section 497(1) CrPC but also comes within the ambit of further inquiry.
The court expected that the magistrates seized with the matters of physical remand will ensure that grounds of arrest are provided to the accused by making them part of the police file.
The court said the impassive attitude of the police is adding to the miseries of innocent litigants, making them vulnerable to unjustified incarceration.
Even previously, at least in three cases the additional IG (Investigation) Punjab was called in the court so as to sensitize him about the importance of the grounds of arrest required to be provided to the accused arrested in a criminal case and he undertook to take appropriate steps towards the compliance of requirement but nothing as such has yet been done, the court added.
The court said though the failure on the part of police to provide grounds of arrest to the accused warrants initiation of contempt proceedings but still lenient view is being taken by reissuance of direction for doing the needful in future.
The court, therefore, directed the office to send the copy of this order to all the sessions judges and the regional police officers (RPOs) for compliance.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023
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