PESHAWAR, Oct 2: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court has accepted a criminal appeal and set aside conviction of a person by a Qazi court in an honour-related murder case.

The appellant, Haroon Rashid, was convicted by an Izafi Zila Qazi (additional district and sessions judge) in Swat last year for killing a man, who he claimed had entered his residence with bad intentions.

The Qazi court had also sentenced him to three years’ imprisonment for possessing a Kalashnikov. The high court’s bench comprising Justice Tariq Pervez and Justice Qazi Ahsanullah Qureshi acquitted him of the murder case. However, his sentence under Section 13 of the Arms Ordinance for possessing a Kalashnikov was upheld by the high court.

The appellant, Haroon Rasheed, had killed Said Bacha on May 5, 2001. Initially, he himself reached the police station concerned with a Kalashnikov and a dagger. He told the police that he was sitting along with his children at his residence when the deceased, allegedly armed with a Kalashnikov, entered his residence.

He stated that he tried to overpower the deceased and in the meantime a dagger fell down from the deceased’s trouser. The appellant took that dagger and stabbed the man to death.

The appellant suspected that the deceased had visited his residence for meeting the appellant’s wife. However, that motive was not mentioned by the investigation officer in the case.

The bench observed that it was clear that when no motive was given for the murder and the deceased had entered the appellant’s residence, therefore it was surely a case of honour-related murder. The bench observed that as the deceased had entered the residence, the appellant might have killed him in self-defence.