SC dismisses pre-arrest bail plea of murder suspect

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the pre-arrest bail plea of a suspect in a murder and attempt to murder case, observing that the accused could not be released on interim bail for several years.

Hearing the petition of Irshad Ali Shah against the dismissal of the protective bail application by the high court, a two-member SC bench headed by Chief Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa observed that there was no justification to release the accused involved in the murder case on protective bail for several years.

The court observed that it was shocking that the accused remained on protective bail for seven years and his protective bail application took five years to be decided. The petitioner’s counsel submitted that his client obtained pre-arrest bail from the high court in 2012, but after six years of protective bail the high court dismissed the pre-arrest bail application in 2018. At his, the petitioner filed an application in the SC. The counsel requested the court to release the petitioner on bail so that he could defend himself against the allegations before the trial court. According to the prosecution, the applicant was involved in a murder and attempt to murder incident over a land dispute registered by the Hyderabad police.