PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench has set aside the life sentence awarded to a man by a model court over the honour-related killing of his sister and her husband.

Justice Roohul Amin Kahn Chamkani and Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim accepted a criminal appeal of Nawaz Khan, a resident of Pabbi area in Nowshera district, observing that the evidence on record didn’t connect him with the commission of the offence.

The man was convicted and awarded life imprisonment and Rs1 million fine by the Nowshera model court. The Pabbi police registered a murder case against him on May 13, 2016.

The prosecution claimed that the woman had married of her own free will and was invited by the accused to the family house along with husband afterward. It added that the couple was killed in a guestroom attached to the house.

The mother of the accused and deceased woman had said that she heard gunshots and found the couple critically injured in the guestroom.

The defence counsel, Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, said conflicting statements were recorded by police officials and other prosecution witnesses about the killings. He said there was no witness to the double murder.

BAIL REJECTED: A child protection court rejected a bail petition of a man facing a child abuse charge.

Judge Wadya Mushtaq ruled that the concession of bail couldn’t be extended to the petitioner, Usman of Palosi area, in view of the evidence available on record.

The court also rejected the bail petition of another suspected child molester, Abbas of Larama area. A case was registered against him at the Khazana police station on the complaint of the assault victim.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2019