PESHAWAR, Feb 20: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench on Monday dismissed bail plea of a suspected school bomber.

Mehruban Khan is charged with blowing up Aziz Khan Public School in the jurisdiction of Mathra police station on the outskirts of Peshawar on September 21, 2010 by an explosive device.

The accused allegedly remained an absconder before being arrested on August 18, 2011.

He later confessed to the school bombing before a judicial magistrate after remaining in police custody for many days.

During the hearing into Mr Aziz's bail plea, Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan observed that those playing with lives and future of children for money deserved no leniency.

He said the country had been facing external and internal threats and that a large number of innocent men, women and children had so far been killed.

The petitioner's lawyer said his client was falsely implicated in the case and that his confession was secured under duress and coercion. He said no one saw his client plant the explosive device in the school.

The state lawyer said the petitioner deserved no leniency as he had already recorded his confessional statement. He added that the accused belonged to a group of people involved in targeting of educational institutions.

The same bench ordered the conducting of medical examination of a woman who is charged with remarrying without securing divorce from her alleged first husband.

It said the woman be examined at the District Headquarters Hospital in Mardan and report of the examination be produced on March 13. - Bureau Report

Opinion

Editorial

Digital growth
Updated 25 Apr, 2024

Digital growth

Democratising digital development will catalyse a rapid, if not immediate, improvement in human development indicators for the underserved segments of the Pakistani citizenry.
Nikah rights
25 Apr, 2024

Nikah rights

THE Supreme Court recently delivered a judgement championing the rights of women within a marriage. The ruling...
Campus crackdowns
25 Apr, 2024

Campus crackdowns

WHILE most Western governments have either been gladly facilitating Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza, or meekly...
Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...