LAHORE: Lahore High Court Justice Amjad Pervaiz has established a legal principle that a harsher penalty introduced through a later law cannot be applied to an offence allegedly committed before the law came into force.
The court granted bail to Muhammad Abbas, who was accused of fraudulently taking Rs900,000 from a woman on the pretext of sending her abroad, and ordered his release against surety bonds worth Rs200,000.
Justice Muhammad Amjad Pervaiz issued a nine-page written judgment on Abbas’s bail petition. Assistant Attorney General Usman Ghani appeared before the court on behalf of the federal government.
The court ruled that the 2025 immigration amendment could not be applied to the alleged offence committed in 2024. It observed that a person cannot be subjected to a harsher punishment under a law enacted after the alleged offence was committed.
The judgment noted that Article 12 of the Constitution of Pakistan protects a person from being punished with a penalty greater than, or different in nature from, the punishment prescribed at the time the offence was committed.
Referring to various Supreme Court judgments, the court said it was a settled principle that a subsequently introduced harsher punishment cannot be applied retrospectively to an offence committed in the past.
According to the court, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had registered a case against Muhammad Abbas for allegedly taking Rs900,000 from the complainant on the promise of securing her employment in Oman.
The FIA registered the case in 2025, while the alleged offence was committed in 2024.
Justice Amjad Pervaiz observed that the FIR was also registered with a delay of nearly one year. He noted that the FIR did not clearly mention the date, time or place of payment of the alleged amount.
According to the FIR, the accused and his accomplice received the money from the complainant in cash and through bank transactions. However, she was neither sent abroad nor refunded the amount.
The Lahore High Court held that, considering the circumstances of the case and the available record, Abbas’s case fell within the scope of further investigation.
The court further observed that keeping the accused in jail for a longer period would amount to punishing him before his trial.
The court subsequently approved Muhammad Abbas’s bail application and ordered his release against surety bonds of Rs200,000.
