PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has rejected bail plea of a juvenile accused arrested around two years ago for his alleged involvement in a devastating suicide bombing at Peshawar Police Lines, which had claimed 84 lives in 2023.

A single-member bench consisting of Justice Sahibzada Asadullah observed that the petitioner hailed from Afghanistan and as per investigation his links were found with proscribed organisations and even some of his family members were either involved in anti-state activities or they had lost their lives in such acts.

The bench observed that there was likelihood of his (petitioner) indulgence in such activities again, if released on bail.

It is pertinent to mention that a suicide bomber had targeted a mosque at the highly guarded police lines on Jan 30, 2023, which had left a portion of the mosque caved in.

His involvement in such activities likely again, bench declares

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at police station of Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) under different provisions of Anti-Terrorism Act, Explosive Substance Act and Pakistan Penal Code.

The petitioner’s counsel stated that prior to the instant petition the bail plea of the accused-petitioner was dismissed by the high court on Dec 11, 2023. He said that the high court had earlier directed the trial court to conclude the trial of the case within 90 working days, and in case of failure, the petitioner was at liberty to approach the competent court.

He contended that the petitioner was entitled to bail under section 6(5) of Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018. He said that under the said provision, irrespective of the nature of offence, an accused should be released on bail if he had been detained for a continuous period exceeding six months and whose trial had not been completed, and the delay had not been occasioned by an act or omission of such a juvenile.

He stated that the petitioner had been declared a juvenile by the court on Sep 22, 2023. He added that since his arrest on March 17, 2023, the petitioner had been behind bars.

The bench observed that admittedly the directions about concluding the trial were given by the court when senior police officers had made commitment before the court, but as the unfortunate incident was an act of terrorism, which claimed lives of large number of innocent people and left many more injured, and the matter was still under investigation as subsequent arrests were being made, so the provisions of section 6(5) of JJSA in that particular case couldn’t extend any benefit to the petitioner.

“As the arrest of the accused or for that matter the terrorist is based on source information, and as the investigation in such like cases could not be said to be completed in ordinary manner, and as the petitioner failed to bring on record any substantive materials, which could indicate his false involvement in the incident, therefore, this court is not inclined to consider the bail plea, irrespective of the directions given in the earlier bail petition,” the bench ruled.

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2025