The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday approved the bail application of Natasha Danish — the driver booked in the Karsaz road accident — in a drug case against surety bonds worth Rs1 million.

On August 19, a speeding Toyota Land Cruiser, driven by Danish, hit three motorcycles and another car on Karsaz Road, killing 60-year-old Imran Arif and his 22-year-old daughter Amna, as well as wounding three others. The driver was arrested and booked for manslaughter charges.

The suspect was granted bail in the murder case earlier this month after the victims’ family pardoned them “without any blood money”. However, a judicial magistrate and a sessions court had separately rejected her bail pleas in the drug case.

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After the dismissal of her bail twice from the lower judiciary in the drug case, the suspect through her lawyer had approached the SHC.

The police had filed a charge sheet against the driver before the court of a judicial magistrate yesterday.

While hearing the bail plea today, Justice Muhammad Karim Khan Agha, after hearing arguments from both sides, approved Danish’s post-arrest bail against surety bonds worth Rs1m.

“A settlement has been reached between the parties in the main FIR of this case,” lead counsel for the suspect, Pakistan Bar Council Vice Chairman Farooq H. Naek, informed the court.

While public prosecutor argued that the suspect was under the influence of drugs at the time of the accident, PPP Senator Naek argued that the medical report was ambiguous as methamphetamine was not found in the blood but only in the urine.

Upon the court inquiring how much methamphetamine was present in the urine sample, the state counsel replied that the medical report did not mention the quantity.

Danish’s lawyer, however, insisted there was a possibility that due to her psychiatric treatment, Natasha was prescribed a medicine that surfaced in the medical report.

Murder, drug cases in Karsaz accident

Danish was arrested on the spot and booked on manslaughter charges after the August 19 accident on Karsaz Road, which killed a father and his daughter.

Later, Sindh Inspector General (IG) of Police Ghulam Nabi Memon said Natasha’s medical report — conducted upon the request of the victims’ counsel — showed she was under the influence of narcotic methamphetamine (crystal meth) while driving.

Consequently, a separate first information report (FIR) was registered by the police against Natasha under Section 11 (drinking liable to tazir) of the Prohibition (Enforcement of Hadd) Order (PEHO) of 1979.

Previously, rejecting Danish’s bail plea in the drug case, Judicial Magistrate (East) Muhammad Raza Ansari had observed that her lawyer could not satisfy the court regarding section 11 of the PEHO.

The magistrate had further said the lawyer’s claim of the suspect’s blood and urine samples being manipulated was false.