KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday issued a notice to prosecution on the bail application of the Karsaz traffic accident suspect in a drug case.

A single bench headed by Justice Mohammad Karim Khan Agha put an assistant prosecutor general on notice for Sept 30.

It also directed the investigating officer of the case to appear in court on the next hearing along with relevant police papers.

Applicant Natasha Danish, through her lawyer, moved the SHC after the subordinate judiciary had rejected her bail applications in the instant case.

Representing the petitioner, Advocate Amir Mansoob Qureshi submitted that she was framed in the present case as it was legally not allowed to lodge two FIRs for one offence.

Referring to the Supreme Court’s landmark judgement in Sughran Bibi versus the state (PLD 2018 SC 595), he submitted that the apex court had held that the subsequent FIR of the same incident that had already been reported to police was illegal and unlawful.

Therefore, the lawyer contended, the instant FIR was lodged in violation of the apex court’s judgement and pleaded to grant bail.

Initially, the suspect was booked and arrested for recklessly driving the 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 on August 19.

Later, another FIR was lodged against her under Section 11 (drinking liable to tazir) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order, 1979.

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

However, a judicial magistrate and then an additional district and sessions judge had dismissed her two bail applications in the drug case on Sept 9 and 12.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2024