KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday granted bail to the Karsaz traffic accident suspect in a drug case.

Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha of the SHC allowed the bail application of suspect Natasha Danish against a surety bond of Rs1 million.

The applicant, through her counsel, moved the SHC after the subordinate judiciary had rejected her bail applications twice in drug case registered under Section 11 (drinking liable to tazir) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (PEHO), 1979.

On Monday, senior lawyer Farooq H. Naek appeared in court on behalf of the applicant and pleaded the court to grant his client post-arrest bail.

Bench rules case requires further inquiry, cites contradiction in detection of ‘ice’ in one, not both physical samples

However, Additional Prosecutor General Iqbal Awan vehemently opposed the application.

The bench, in its order, stated that Section 11 of PEHO was actually dealing with drinking alcohol with prescribed maximum sentence of three years. “It is difficult to see how the applicant has been booked under such provision since it was a narcotic substance (ice) allegedly found in her body rather than alcohol, but such issue is being left for trial court to decide.”

It also noted that in such cases where maximum sentence was three years, as per general rule the bail application should be granted unless exceptional circumstances existed.

Regarding medical evidence, the bench observed that no narcotic or other sedative was found in blood samples of the applicant while methamphetamine (ice) was detected in urine samples. There appeared to be a contradiction between two reports which made this a case of further inquiry, the judge noted.

“Even if the applicant had taken ice (narcotic) it would prima facie have been a very small amount since otherwise the applicant would have overdosed. Hence even if a case fell under CNS Act, 1997 and could be made out against her since the quantum of ice which the applicant had taken cannot be ascertained from her urine sample and is likely to be very minor in nature the maximum sentence would most probably be less than 03 years which could entitle her to the grant of bail as mentioned above,” the order said.

The bench noted that the charge sheet had been filed and the applicant was no longer required for further investigation.

It said that the applicant was the mother of three school-going children, who had already been in prison for the past six weeks.

Ruling that the case needed further inquiry, the bench granted post-arrest bail to the applicant subject to furnishing solvent surety in the sum of Rs1 million.

The suspect has been booked and arrested for recklessly driving her Toyota Land Cruiser and killing 60-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter Amna and wounding three others in an accident near Karsaz. Later, she was booked in a second FIR after medical reports confirmed that she was under the influence of methamphetamine (ice) at the time of the accident.

On Sept 6, a sessions court had granted her post-arrest bail in the main case after legal heirs of deceased persons “pardoned” her.

Published in Dawn, October 1st, 2024