Law: Criminal Procedure Code (V of 1898)

Section: 497, 210, 220

Law: Penal Code (XLV of 1860)

Section: 302

(On appeal from the judgment and order of the Lahore High Court at Lahore, dated the 15th of September 1970, in Criminal Miscellaneous No. 6315 of 1970).             (a) Criminal Procedure Code (V of IS98), S. 497-Bail in non bailable offence-Tendency of applications being moved to superior Courts for bail and anticipatory bail as a matter of routine Deprecated-Grant or refusal of bail it non-bailable cases-matter of discretion with-primary Courts Ascertaining whether prima facie reasonable grounds exist or not or believing- accused guilty Courts do not have to probe into merits of the case-Commitment of accused to Sessions Courts for offence under S. 302/34, P. P. C. Contention that S. 34 was not attracted in case to make accused constructively liable for offence of murder-Held: Point involved, appraisal of entire prosecution evidence which could not safely be undertaken by High Court hearing bail application-Penal Code (XLV of 1860), S. 302. Of late, a growing tendency is witnessed of applications for bail and anticipatory bail being brought in the High Courts and the Supreme Court almost as a matter of routine. As repeatedly laid down by the Supreme Court, grant or refusal of bail in non-bailable cases is a matter of discretion with the primary Court, which is inquiring into or trying the case. This discretion has to be exercised in a judicial manner, with due regard to the circumstances of each case, without any propensity to unnecessarily jeopardise the liberties of the people who are accused of criminal offences. For offences punishable with death or transportation, this discretion is subject to the limitation that bail is not to be allowed to an accused person, if it is shown that there are reasonable grounds to believe that he has committed such an offence. In order to ascertain whether reasonable grounds exist or do not exist, the Courts do not have to probe into the merits of the case. They have only to look at the material placed before them by the prosecution, to see whether some tangible evidence is available against the accused, which, if left, unrebutted may lead to the inference of guilt.…