KARACHI: The owner of two dogs who had attacked and injured a lawyer managed to escape on Saturday after a sessions court recalled his interim pre-arrest bail.

Suspect Humayun Ali Khan along with his dogs’ handlers, Fahad and Ali, has been booked in a case pertaining to the attack on Advocate Mirza Akhtar by his dogs in DHA Phase-VI.

A video clip had gone viral on social media showing a man getting mauled by two pet dogs earlier this week. The incident was recorded by a CCTV camera, which showed two dogs attacking a man as he passed by. The victim could be seen tackled to the ground as the hounds continued to attack him.

On Saturday, Additional District and Sessions Judge (South) Shahid Ali Memon pronounced his order reserved earlier on an application seeking confirmation of the interim bail granted to suspect Khan.

The judge noted that it might not be forgotten that the instant dog-biting incident was not new one but such incidents were taking place all over the country, particularly around the entire Sindh province.

The judge rules that owner showed negligence when he released dogs from his home without taking any safety measures

“Nowadays such incidents are rapidly increasing day by day thus under such a situation the lives of the innocent people, passerby, students etc are at stake and the controlling authorities are sleeping having no sense of responsibility,” the judge observed.

The court noted that it may also not be forgotten that there were two kinds of dogs, one is called stray dogs and the other is pet dogs. “The role of controlling authorities over stray dogs seems to be of much criminal negligence while the role of the private owners over their pet dogs also seems to be negligent one,” the judge added.

He stated that the present case was the best example, as the owner had shown great negligence by not observing safety measures when the pet dogs were released from his house.

He observed that the owner of the dogs was supposed to have fulfilled his responsibility before allowing his servants to take the animals out of the house. “Admittedly the dogs were free from any rope/leash and muzzle/mask over the mouth of the dogs, thus the present unpleasant incident had occurred,” the court order said.

The judge concluded that more so the offences with which the applicant along with his companions had been charged were not offences against the individual but the same were against the whole society, therefore, under such situation the applicant was not entitled to pre-arrest bail.

The judge recalled the interim pre-arrest bail granted to the applicant and also dismissed his application seeking confirmation of the same.

After the bail was recalled, the applicant, who was present in the courtroom, escaped as the investigating officer failed to arrest him, victim’s counsel Haq Nawaz Talpur told Dawn.

‘Watch list’

Meanwhile, police authorities asked the Federal Investigation Agency to put the names of two accused, namely Humayun Ali Khan and his son, Daniyal Ali Khan, in the dog-bite case on a ‘watch list’ to prevent them from possible escape abroad, Dawn has learnt.

In a letter to FIA, South SSP (Investigation), Imran Mirza contended that “there is severe apprehension that they will fly abroad to avoid legal proceedings.”

The letter urged FIA immigration authorities that names of both accused be put on the ‘observation list,’ so that if the accused persons try to travel inside or outside the country, they may be stopped.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2021