PESHAWAR: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench has granted bail to a man charged with killing two people, including his sister, for honour in Mardan district two years ago.

Justice Roohul Amin Khan accepted the bail petition of the accused, Khan Zaib, on condition of producing two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.

The honour killing case was registered at the Toru police station in Mardan on Jan 5, 2018.

The woman had claimed in her dying declaration that her armed brother had seen her with a man near their house at night before firing shots at them.

She died of critical injuries afterward.

His sister, man were killed in Mardan area two years ago

Shabbir Hussain Gigyani, lawyer for the petitioner, said except the dying declaration of the woman, no evidence was available on record to connect his client with the offence.

He said the woman’s dying declaration was in conflict with the investigation report.

The lawyer said according to the statement in question, the deceased woman had claimed that the accused had fired at them near their house, but the incident’s site plan prepared by the investigation officer showed the woman in a room of her house and the deceased outside.

He added that the police hadn’t recovered the weapon used for the killing.

The lawyer said the two were killed at night and there was no witness to the killings.

BAIL GRANTED: A bench headed by Chief Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth granted bail to a man charged with committing a robbery at the house of a former nazim of Nowshera district.

According to police, some robbers had entered the nazim’s house and looted 83 tolas of gold ornaments, millions of rupees in cash and licensed arms at gunpoint.

An FIR was registered at the Akora Khattak police station under different sections of the Pakistan Penal Code and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Arms Act on Jan 7, 2020.

The police later arrested petitioner Shah Faisal of Mardan and charged him with committing the crime.

They claimed to have recovered some of the looted gold ornaments and the pistol and motorcycle used in the offence.

A witness had also identified the petitioner during identification parade conducted in prison by a magistrate.

The petitioner’s lawyer said his client had remained in illegal detention of the police and was later charged in the case.

He said the petitioner’s mother had filed an application with the district and sessions judge against his illegal detention and the police formally disclosed the arrest.

The lawyer said the identification parade conducted by the magistrate was faulty as prior to that, the petitioner’s photos were taken and were placed in the file, which was also shown to the witness so that he should identify him in the identification parade.

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2020