HYDERABAD: Hyderabad antiterrorism court on Wednesday granted bail to Anis Khaskheli, accused in Sindh University student Naila Rind’s suicide case, for a sum of Rs100,000.

Late Rind, a final-year student of Sindhi department, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her room in Marvi hostel on Jan 1, 2017.

Anis, son of a medical university registrar, was arrested on Jan 6 after police found his mobile phone number among those who had called the girl on her last day.

The suspect was represented by Ishrat Lohar in the case which was lodged against an ‘unknown caller’ under Sections 315, 316, 509 of the PPC, 6/7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and 3, 9 of Prevention of Electronic Crimes Act, 2009.

The court had heard arguments of defence counsel and prosecutor on July 12 and reserved judgement in the case which was announced on Wednesday.

The defence counsel argued that sections of the ATA and PPC inserted in the FIR did not apply in this case because the accused had not harmed the girl’s body or mind.

He argued that even Section 318 (qatl-i-khata) did not apply and Section 3, 9 of Electronic Crimes Act, 2009, could not be added in the case because the name of his client was not mentioned in the FIR. The only ‘crime’ of the accused was that he and the deceased girl had exchanged pictures with each other, he added.

District public prosecutor Nasir Durrani opposed the grant of bail to the accused and admitted that his name was not mentioned in the FIR, but his mobile phone number was.

He said that if he was granted bail it would discourage parents to send their children to universities and resultantly they would be deprived of their right to higher education. It was a crime against society, he said.

Naila Rind’s final post-mortem examination report had revealed that her death was caused by constriction of neck, leading to asphyxia which was sufficient to cause death in ordinary course of nature.

Published in Dawn, July 20th, 2017