PESHAWAR, Oct 8: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan on Monday dismissed bail petition of a man charged with killing of his wife and portraying it as a suicide.

The PHC chief justice directed the inspector general of police (investigation) to assign re-investigation of the case to a senior officer not below the rank of deputy superintendent of police (DSP).

The bench observed that keeping in view the circumstances of the case the accused-petitioner, Saeed Ahmad Awan, did not deserve to be set free on bail.

The woman, Sehrish Fayaz, had died under mysterious circumstances on Aug 26, 2012 in the limits of Hasthnagri police station.

The accused claimed that she had committed suicide by hanging herself with the ceiling fan.

The father of the woman charged the accused for killing his daughter. He alleged that a day earlier he had received a phone call from her daughter and she had stated that her husband was annoyed with her over a trivial issue and had been beating her. On his complaint, police had registered FIR under section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code.

The petitioner’s counsel contended that the woman had hanged herself with her shawl and when her husband entered the room he spotted her. He added that the petitioner had also made a video clip with her cellular phone while the deceased was hanging so that he should not be suspected by the police.

Advocate Khalid Afridi appeared for the complainant and contended that it was unusual for a man to make video of his wife hanging from a ceiling fan instead of bringing her down.

He said that the investigation officer had not properly investigated the case as he didn’t measure the height of the ceiling of the room.

Mr Afridi argued that brother of the accused had told police that his brother had brought down the body of his wife with the support of his sister-in-law. However, he added that the accused stated that he had spotted the body and made its video.

The PHC chief justice observed that it looked odd that the accused was making the video.

He observed that the deceased was having three daughters and was having no male issue and it was unfortunate that in such a situation women were looked down upon in the society. He added that women had no fault in giving birth to a male or female child, but still they had to hear taunts from the family members.

The chief justice took notice of the faulty investigation in the case and observed that the investigation officer had overlooked several important points.