PESHAWAR, Feb 9: The Peshawar High Court on Friday set aside the conviction by a subordinate court of two brothers charged with killing their wives.

A bench comprising Justice Tallat Qayyum Qureshi observed that the evidence on record was not enough to connect the two appellants with the commission of the offence.

The appellants, Rehamdad and Abdul Zaman, had been convicted by an izafi zila qazi in Buner district on Jun 30, 2004, and sentenced to 14-year rigorous imprisonment with fine of Rs10,000 each.

Rehamdad was charged with killing his wife Shah Izzat and Zaman was accused of killing his wife Bas Bibi. Both women were wives of their brother Sher Ali and the appellants had married them after their brother had been killed by their rivals.

The FIR of the case was lodged with the Daggar police station on May 20, 2001. Rehamdad had told the police that the women were locked in an altercation when Zaman shot them dead in a fit of anger.

However, the mother of Bas Bibi had disputed Rehamdad’s statement and alleged that both the brothers had killed their wives. She stated that one of her daughters, Nasreen, who was married to one Shah Gul, had begun living at her sister’s place after a dispute with her husband, due to which Shah Gul killed Sher Ali.

Advocate Nasrun Minallah appeared for the appellants and contended that there was no witness of the occurrence and the prosecution could not prove its case against them.

He said that police had only found Kalashnikov rifles from their home and there was no other incriminating evidence against them.