IN THE SUPREME COURT OF PAKISTAN 
(Appellate Jurisdiction) 
 
 
PRESENT:  
Mr. Justice Mushir Alam 
Mr. Justice Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed 
 
Criminal Petition No.716 of 2019  
(against 
the 
impugned 
order 
dated 
13.6.2019 passed by the Lahore High Court 
Lahore in Crl. Misc.No.14549-B/2019). 
 
 
Husnain Mustafa 
…Petitioner(s) 
 
VERSUS 
 
The State and another 
…Respondent(s) 
 
 
For the Petitioner(s) 
: Ms. Bushra Qamar, ASC   
 
 
Syed Rifaqat Hussain Shah, AOR 
 
For the State 
: Mr. Muhammad Jaffar,  
D.P.G. Punjab. 
Akram and Tanvir, Sub-Inspectors. 
 
 
 
Date of Hearing 
: 12.09.2019. 
 
O R D E R 
 
 
Qazi Muhammad Amin Ahmed, J.- Muhammad 
Zain-ul-Abideen, 9/10, Kaniz Fatima, 7/8 and Muhammad 
Ibrahim, 4/5 were living with their mother Aneeqa Rasheed 
after termination of her marriage with their father Qaisar Amin, 
shifted at Karachi for good; on 24-3-2018, he learnt about 
homicidal deaths of his children in the residential flat of his 
former wife; he rushed to Lahore and lodged a report wherein 
he blamed Aneeqa Rasheed and Husnain Mustafa, present 
petitioner, to have killed the children; he maintained that his 
former wife was carrying on with the petitioner and they 
wanted to get rid of the children, seemingly an obstruction in 
their 
affair. 
As 
the 
investigation 
progressed, 
the 
first 
Investigating Officer let off the petitioner albeit with finding of 
his liaison with Aneeqa Rasheed; after change of investigation, 
however, the petitioner alongside Aneeqa Rasheed and Ayyaz 
Mehmood 
were 
sent 
to 
face 
trial; 
subsequently, 
the 
Criminal Petition No.716 of 2019  
 
 
 
 
 
 
2 
 
complainant exonerated Aneeqa Rasheed; she was released on 
bail on the basis of a concessionary statement made by no 
other than the complainant himself; it was subsequent thereto 
that she instituted a private complaint against the petitioner 
and Ayyaz Mehmood co-accused wherein she blamed both of 
them to have committed the murders within her view; she also 
contradicted the case set up in the crime report by accusing 
the police to have collaborated with the accused; unimpressed 
by the position taken by Aneeqa Rasheed, learned Additional 
Sessions Judge, after recording precursory evidence, dismissed 
the complaint vide order dated 23-5-2019. In this backdrop, 
prosecution case is structured upon a positive polygraph test 
of the petitioner alongside statements of Muhammad Waseem 
Abbas and Ali Zaib recorded as late as on 9-7-2018; they 
claimed to have seen the petitioner on the crime scene in the 
morning of 24-3-2018; the complainant arrayed Ayyaz 
Mudassir as privy to the crime in supplementary statement 
dated 10-7-2018.  
2. 
 
Heard. 
3. 
 
Brutality inflicted upon the innocent souls is most 
appalling to say the least, however, in the chequered 
circumstances of the case, what cannot be lost sight of is that 
the complainant, though most grievously aggrieved and 
devastated, nonetheless, is not eye witness of the crime; his 
initial belief that the petitioner in connivance with his former 
wife murdered the children is essentially structured upon a 
suspicion; he has even recalled a substantial portion thereof 
while exonerating identically placed Aneeqa Rasheed before a 
learned Additional Sessions Judge at Lahore on 19-12-2018. 
Subsequently inducted co-accused Ayyaz Mehmood, with 
alleged active participation in the crime is on bail. Polygraph 
test, a modern forensic method to unearth the truth, may 
establish a person’s capacity to lie, however, findings thereof, 
cannot be equated with admission of guilt. Transposition of 
Aneeqa Rasheed as a witness with her failure to prosecute the 
Criminal Petition No.716 of 2019  
 
 
 
 
 
 
3 
 
petitioner 
through 
a 
private 
complaint 
constitutes 
her 
departure from the scene and as such squarely brings his case 
within the ambit of subsection 2 of section 497 of the Code of 
Criminal Procedure, 1898. Statements of Waseem Abbbas and 
Ali Zaib recorded after an unexplained, inordinate delay also 
require evidential verification during the trial. Horrors of an 
heinous crime cannot impede release of accused on bail, if 
otherwise his guilt called for further probe nor bail can be 
withheld as a strategy for punishment. The petition is 
converted into an appeal and allowed; petitioner shall be 
released on bail upon furnishing bond in the sum of 
Rs.500,000/- with one surety in the like amount to the 
satisfaction of the learned trial Court.    
   
 
 
 
JUDGE 
 
 
 
Islamabad, the 
12th September, 2019 
Azmat/* 
JUDGE 
 
 
