HYDERABAD, June 4: The Hyderabad circuit bench of the Sindh High Court on Wednesday granted bail on health grounds to landlord Abdul Rehman Mari, the prime accused in the kidnapping case of Manu Bheel’s nine family members, for a sum of Rs100,000.

The court ruled that the accused was being granted bail, taking into consideration the fresh circumstances and grounds, his medical condition and that he was a hepatitis-C patient.

Mari’s counsel Saeeduddin Nasir argued that the case, in fact, was an offshoot of enmity between a labourer and his client over a piece of land and the offence was not punishable with death or imprisonment for life nor for ten years.

He said that his client who had been suffering from hepatitis-C, had been languishing in jail for two years even though he had surrendered to police on July 22, 2006.

He said that since the incubation period of hepatitis-C could be very long the applicant found out at a later stage that he had the disease and his death in jail could not be ruled out.

Mr Nasir presented in the court medical reports, showing that the accused was suffering from hepatitis-C, and argued that the other accused in the case had been granted bail.

Assistant Attorney General of Sindh Mumtaz Leghari opposed the bail application, pleading that the applicant’s name was in an FIR about a case of kidnapping. The FIR had assigned different roles to the accused, who had been granted bail, he added.

He stressed that the accused did surrender to police but only after his property was attached. Therefore, under these circumstances bail could be granted to him, he stressed.

Mari has been in jail since Aug 11 after his bail before arrest had been cancelled by the Hyder-abad circuit bench, which had been moved by Sindh’s AAG Masood A. Noorani. Prior to it, he had been on bail before arrest granted to him on Sept 27, 2004 by Mirpurkhas sessions judge.

The then Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had taken suo motu notice of the case and then the AAG had sought cancellation of Mari’s bail before arrest.