Man, woman granted bail in prostitution case

The Sindh High Court (SHC) has granted bail to a man and a woman in a case pertaining to prostitution and fornication charges, observing that there is no legal or moral compulsion to keep people in jail merely on the allegation that they have committed such offences, unless reasonable grounds appear to exist to disclose their complicity.

Issuing a detailed order on the bail applications of Deen Mohammad and Safia, a single SHC bench headed by Justice Adnanul Karim Memon observed that every ingredient of sections 371-A and 371-B of the Pakistan Penal Code is that there has to be an intention that the person would be used for prostitution or illicit intercourse.

The court observed that the record of the case shows that there was neither any written complaint from the public nor any oral statement of any independent person of the locality was recorded by the complainant to support his

version.

The court observed that no material evidence is available to show that the applicants were involved in buying and selling persons for prostitution, and even the witness in his deposition admitted that no incriminating material was found, except mobile phones, so in the circumstances, the application of sections 371-A and 371-B is a matter which requires further probe.

The court observed that the provisions of sections 371-A and 371-B only apply to persons who sell or purchase any person with the intent that such a person would be used for prostitution or illicit intercourse.

The court observed that when the additional prosecutor general was asked about the ingredients of the above two offences, he had no answer. Besides, the court observed, neither had any search warrant been obtained nor any notables of the locality had been associated with the alleged.

The court observed that the ultimate conviction and incarceration of a guilty person can repair the wrong caused by a mistaken relief of bail granted to him, but no satisfactory reparation can be offered to an innocent man/woman for his/her unjustified incarceration at any stage of the case, albeit his/her acquittal in the long run.

The court observed that the prosecution has the uphill task to prove that in the premises where females were present, they indulged in the act of offering their body for promiscuous sexual intercourse for hire to persons who hardly have any reasonable sums in their pockets.

The court observed that the perusal of the FIR shows that the personal search of the accused woman did not show the recovery of any monies.

The court observed that the case requires further inquiry into the guilt of the accused persons, and granted bail to them for Rs50,000 each. The court directed the trial court to examine the remaining witnesses and conclude the trial within a month.

According to the prosecution, police alleged that the applicants, along with co-accused Nasreen and Irtiza Siddiqui, had kept the woman in a residential flat and were doing immoral activities against a handsome amount with different people as a daily routine.

The applicants’ counsel said his clients were innocent and falsely implicated in the case by the police with mala fide intentions and ulterior motives.

The counsel said that one accused was suffering from final-stage liver disease, while the other accused was his domestic help who had nothing to do with the offence, while the prosecution witnesses did not support the prosecution’s case.

They said that there was a dispute between the owner of the subject house and the union of the building, and the alleged offences were not attracted in the case. The additional prosecutor general had opposed the bail of the applicants.