KARACHI: A judicial magistrate on Friday granted bail to an underage driver who had knocked down to death a policeman when he was crossing a road in the Zamzama Commercial area.

The investigating officer (IO) produced the 17-year-old suspect, Hassan Haji, before Judicial Magistrate (South) Mazhar Ali and sought his 14-day physical remand for interrogation.

The IO informed the court that they had recovered the car that had hit 45-year-old Constable Kamran Khan in DHA Phase V.

He also informed the court that a case was registered under Section 320 (unintentional murder by rash or negligent driving) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). However, during the investigation, the IO also inserted Section 322 (manslaughter) of the PPC in the FIR.

During the proceeding, the defence counsel sought post-arrest bail for the juvenile suspect.

After hearing the arguments, the court rejected the IO’s request and approved the bail against a surety bond of Rs2 million, citing Section 6(3) of the Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018.

The said provision allows a juvenile person arrested or detained in a non-bailable section to be treated as bailable.

The judge also mentioned that the Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018 clearly stated that a juvenile shall be interrogated by a police officer not below the rank of sub-inspector under the supervision of a superintendent of police (SP).

“Superintendent of Police, Investigation Zone-I, Karachi South is hereby directed to assign the investigation of the instant crime to any other investigation officer, not below the rank of the sub-inspector,” the judge ruled.

Published in Dawn, March 23rd, 2024