SHC grants bail to Karsaz accident suspect in drug case – Pakistan

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday approved the bail application of Natasha Danish – the driver accused in the Karsaz road accident – in a drug case against sureties worth Rs 1 million.

On August 19, a Toyota Land Cruiser driven by Danish crashed into three motorcycles and another car at high speed on Karsaz Road, killing 60-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter Amna and injuring three others. The driver was arrested and charged with manslaughter.

The suspect in the murder case was released on bail earlier this month after the victim’s family pardoned her “without blood money.” However, a judge and a sessions court had separately rejected their bail applications in the drug case.

After being denied bail twice by the lower judiciary in the drug case, the suspect had approached the SHC through her lawyer.

The police filed a complaint against the driver with the responsible judge yesterday.

At the hearing of the bail application today, Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, after hearing arguments from both sides, agreed to Danish post-arrest bail against sureties worth Rs 1 million.

“An agreement has been reached between the parties in the main proceedings of this case,” lawyer Farooq H. Naek told the court.

While the prosecution argued that the suspect was under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident, Naek argued that the medical report was inconclusive because methamphetamine was not found in the blood, only in the urine.

When the court asked how much methamphetamine was contained in the urine sample, the prosecutor replied that the medical report did not mention the amount.

However, Danish’s lawyer insisted that there was a possibility that Natasha was prescribed a medication that appeared in the medical report as a result of her psychiatric treatment.

Murder, drug cases in accident in Karsaz

Danish was immediately arrested and charged with manslaughter following the August 19 accident on Karsaz Road that killed a father and his daughter.

Later, Inspector General (IG) of Sindh Police Ghulam Nabi Memon said that Natasha’s medical report, prepared at the request of the victim’s lawyer, revealed that she was under the influence of the narcotic methamphetamine (crystal meth) while driving .

As a result, a separate First Information Report (FIR) was registered by the police against Natasha under Section 11 (Drinking under the influence) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (PEHO), 1979.

Earlier, Justice (East) Muhammad Raza Ansari, while rejecting Danish’s bail application in the drugs case, had observed that her lawyer failed to satisfy the court on Section 11 of the PEHO.

The judge had also said that the lawyer’s claim that the suspect’s blood and urine samples were tampered with was false.