IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
 
Present: 
MR. JUSTICE DOST MUHAMMAD KHAN  
MR. JUSTICE QAZI FAEZ ISA 
MR. JUSTICE FAISAL ARAB 
 
 
CRIMINAL PETITION NO. 1232 OF 2016 
(Against the order dated 27.10.2016 of the 
Lahore High Court, Lahore passed in 
Criminal Misc. No.7923-B/2016). 
 
 
Adnan Prince. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
… Petitioner(s) 
VERSUS 
The State through P.G., Punjab and another. 
 
… Respondent(s) 
 
 
 
For the Petitioner(s): 
  
Mrs. Asma Jahangir, Sr. ASC. 
 
 
 
 
 
Ch. Akhtar Ali, AOR.  
 
For Respondent No. 1/State: Ch. Zubair Ahmed Farooq, Addl.PG., Punjab.  
 
 
 
 
 
Muhammad Akram, SI/IO. 
 
For Respondent No. 2:  
Mr. Ghulam Mustafa Ch., ASC. 
 
 
 
 
 
Mr. Ghulam Hussain, AOR (absent).  
 
Date of Hearing:  
 
01.02.2017. 
 
JUDGMENT 
 
 
Dost Muhammad Khan, J:-  Issue notice to the respondents. 
During the course of hearing, learned Additional Prosecutor General, 
Punjab accepts notice, however, he stated that he may be given time to 
go through the order sheets of the learned trial Court and this case may 
be taken up after the break time, i.e. 11:30 am.  
 
2. 
The case was taken up for hearing after the break. Petitioner is 
seeking leave to appeal against the judgment/order dated 27.10.2016 of 
the learned single Judge of the Lahore High Court, Lahore, whereby the 
bail petition of the petitioner was dismissed despite of statutory delay in 
Crl.P.No.1232/2016 
 
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the conclusion of the trial, which according to the record, is almost three 
years and three months, if counted from the date of the arrest of the 
accused/petitioner. 
 
3. 
The earlier bail petition of the petitioner was dismissed on merits 
upto this Court, however, after the expiry of statutory period, provided in 
the proviso to Section 497 Cr.P.C. he repeated his bail petition but could 
not succeed. He is facing trial in case FIR No. 675 dated 09.10.2013 for 
crimes under section 295-A, B & C of the PPC registered at Police Station 
Township, District Lahore.  
 
4. 
We have gone through the brief summary/list of the order sheets of 
the learned trial Court where delay has mainly been caused by the 
prosecution or the Court itself, seized of the trial and even if the 
adjournments sought by the accused/petitioner due to absence of his 
counsel or his non-availability is excluded, even then he would be 
entitled to the concession of bail because in that case too his total 
detention during the trial becomes more than two years.  
 
5. 
The learned Additional Prosecutor General, Punjab assisted by the 
counsel for the informant/complainant contended that this Court has 
already dismissed a bail petition by holding that once adjournments are 
sought by the accused/petitioner then it is not a matter of mathematical 
calculation and that could be a ground to refuse bail to accused person.  
 
6. 
The judgment on which reliance was placed was delivered at the 
time when relevant provisions of Criminal Procedure Code were not 
amended and Article 10-A was not part of the Constitution of Pakistan 
which require that each and every accused must be provided opportunity 
of fair trial and also the State has been put under obligation that each 
Crl.P.No.1232/2016 
 
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and every accused must be provided opportunity of fair trial, therefore, in 
our considered view the said ratio laid down by this Court would not be 
strictly attracted.  
7. 
It has been consistently held by this Court that if a case on such 
statutory delay in the conclusion of trial is made out then, ordinarily, 
bail should not be refused on hyper technical ground. 
8. 
 
The Primary object behind this view is that in case any 
accused person under detention is acquitted at the end of the trial then, 
in no manner the wrong, caused to him due to long incarceration in 
prison pending trial, he cannot be compensated in any manner while on 
the other hand, in case, if he is convicted then, he has to be rearrested 
and put behind the bars to undergo his sentence and in that case no 
prejudice would be caused to the prosecution/complainant. 
9. 
 
Of course, it is too late but we are constrained to give a 
wake-up call to the prosecution/State that in Criminal cases involving 
capital punishment, the Investigators and Prosecutors, consisting of 
large fleets who are being sustained and maintained at the cost of tax 
payers money of the poor people, shall diligently perform their statutory 
duties/obligations otherwise, they will be guilty of violating the 
mandatory statutory provisions of the Cr.PC., the Constitution and Law 
relating to the prosecution branch. It is a universal principle of law that 
to have a speedy trial is the right of every accused person, therefore, un-
necessary delay in trial of such cases would amount to denial of justice. 
 
 
Many years back, the State/Government with the object to 
put the criminal justice system into the correct channels, bifurcated the 
police force to preventive/detective, investigation and prosecution wings. 
The establishment of the same cost dearly the public exchequer because 
Crl.P.No.1232/2016 
 
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extraordinary budget was allocated for this purpose by all the 
Governments of the Provinces including Federal Government, however, 
such costly exercise could not improve the system because supervising 
officers of these three wings of the police are taking least interest to 
streamline the working of each wing, in an efficient and effective manner 
and to comply with the mandatory provisions of law. Thus even today 
charge sheets and submission of the challans before the competent 
courts in criminal cases are delayed beyond the mandatory statutory 
period for no reason much less plausible. Even interim challans as 
required under the law are not submitted within the statutory period. 
This conduct and attitude as well as performance of investigating, 
prosecution and detective agencies are absolutely un-acceptable and un-
condonable because on the one hand, the law is disregarded while on the 
other hand, with the passage of time and long delay in the submission of 
challans, trial in each case is delayed and some of the witnesses 
including star witness either vanish being killed by the opponents, meet 
natural death or abandon their permanent abode/place of official duties 
due to transfer to another place or district making it a cumbersome job 
for the trial court to procure their attendance. This is one of the major 
contributory factor in the backlog crisis/pendency of criminal cases. 
Such type of un-condonable delay in many cases becomes a cause of 
frustration both for the accused, the aggrieved complainant party and in 
some cases, the aggrieved party ordinarily takes the law into hands 
indulging in revengeful acts. 
10. 
 
This has certainly resulted in unrest and element of 
intolerance in the society which ultimately would have negative impacts 
on the performance of the government as a whole. 
Crl.P.No.1232/2016 
 
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11. 
 
Accordingly, copy of this judgment be sent to the Attorney 
General of Pakistan, all the Prosecutor Generals of the Provinces and 
Islamabad Capital Territory-ICT, Advocate Generals of the four Provinces, 
DIGs/Addl. IGPs who are the Incharges of the Investigation Wings, 
Ministry of Interior, Govt. of Pakistan and all the Chief Secretaries of the 
four Provinces, all the Home Secretaries of the provinces, IGP-Islamabad, 
Chief Commissioner-ICT with the direction to hold deliberations and 
consultations and after giving deep thought to the subject matter, they 
should collectively and individually devise a proper strategy/policy to 
arrest this grave menace of delay and causes thereof and to immediately 
redress the same within the possible minimum time so that compliance 
is made with the mandatory provision of law and the relevant article of 
the Constitution in its true letter and spirit and to make accountable 
each and every officer who is found responsible for such delay and to 
show a visible and efficient performance in all three fields, failing which 
the public would be justified to protest that their money is going waste 
without any fruitful result even after introduction of the new system. 
12. 
 
Copy of the actions taken alongwith minutes of each and 
every action taken, in view of above guidelines be submitted periodically 
to the Registrar of this Court with detailed information about the cases 
pending investigation before the Investigating Agency, the Prosecution 
Branch and to explain the delay in the submission of challans to the trial 
court. 
13. 
 
As discussed in the earlier part of this judgment, we are of 
the view that the long delay caused in the conclusion of the trial in this 
case where- after three years and three months long period only 
Crl.P.No.1232/2016 
 
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examination-in-chief of a single witness has been recorded is a matter of 
concern for the Court which shall not go un-noticed. 
14. 
 
The inordinate and shocking delay in the conclusion of trial 
in this case has made out a case for grant of bail which cannot be 
refused to the petitioner on any ground much less justifiable. 
 
 
Accordingly, this petition is converted into appeal and is 
allowed, the appellant-Adnan Prince son of Parvaiz Shahid is granted bail 
subject to his furnishing bail bonds in the sum of Rs.300,000/- (three 
lac) with two reliable sureties in the like amount to the satisfaction of the 
trial court.  
 
 
 
 
Judge  
 
 
Judge  
 
 
Judge  
Bench-IV 
Islamabad:  
01.02.2017 
(M. Tauseef) 
 
‘Approved for Reporting’ 
