PESHAWAR: A local court on Monday acquitted a man charged with the honour-related murder of his wife.

While ordering the release of the accused, additional district and sessions judge Hayat Gul Mohmand ruled that the prosecution didn’t prove the charge against the accused, Naeem Gul, a resident of Peshawar’s Urmer area.

A week ago, another additional district and sessions judge, Sadia Arshad, had acquitted him in a honour-related murder of his mother.

According to the prosecution, the accused had lodged a complaint with the Urmer police station in July 2013 that his wife had allegedly eloped with someone.

On Sept 6, 2013, the mother of the accused was killed by an unidentified man at her house.

Against the killing, the accused’s father had registered an FIR at the Urmer police station. Later, the police arrested the accused on the murder charge.

Recording a statement before a judicial magistrate, he admitted to the killing of his mother in an honour-related crime.

The accused also denied his wife had been missing and revealed that he had strangulated her to death and buried her in his house’s courtyard in the name of honour.

The police later recovered a decomposed body from the premises and registered FIR against him on Sept 20, 2013.

In the murder case of his mother, the accused’s lawyer, Yousaf Orakzai, had said while the complainant had charged the accused with the offence, bullet empties recovered from the place of occurrence were of two different weapons proving that the offence was committed by two people.

He had added that the entire testimony of the complainant had become doubtful in that case.

About the killing of the accused’s wife, Mr. Orakzai said the case was based on faulty investigation.

He asked how the police knew that the decomposed body recovered by them was that of the missing woman.

The lawyer said the police had not conducted a DNA test of the body to ascertain whether she was the missing woman.

He said the confessional statement of the accused was made under duress as he was tortured by the police to record that statement.

He added that the motive for the murder wasn’t be established by the police.

BAIL DENIED: An anti-terrorism court has rejected the bail petition of a man arrested on the charge of possessing and planting an explosive device here.

Judge Tariq Yousafzai pronounced that the petitioner, Yousaf Khan, a resident of Regi area in Peshawar, didn’t deserve to be given the concession of bail.

The petitioner was arrested few days ago by the police on Nasir Bagh Road here claiming he carried a four kilogrammes improvised explosive device with the intent of planting it in the city for a terrorist activity.

Published in Dawn January 31st, 2017