PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth on Monday granted bail to a person charged with killing two transgender persons here a few months ago.

The chief justice accepted the bail petition filed by the suspect named Asif Khan, a resident of Charsadda, directing him to submit two sureties of Rs300,000 each.

The two transgender persons -- Danial alias Chutki and Aizaz alias Mehek -- were fired at when they were travelling in a rickshaw in the jurisdiction of Paharipura police station on March 27.

The rickshaw driver had told the police that two persons were riding a motorcycle and the one sitting in the back had fired at them. He had claimed that although he did not know the attacker he could identify him if he was produced before him.

The counsel for the petitioner contended that the story of prosecution was full of loopholes, arguing that the petitioner was arrested on April 18 by the police but no identification parade was conducted so that the said driver could have identified him.

He said the petitioner was entitled to the concession of bail keeping in view flaws in the prosecution case.

Published in Dawn, July 24th, 2018