PESHAWAR: A local court on Monday confirmed the pre-arrest bail of six teachers of the University of Peshawar in a house trespass case.

The additional district and sessions judge pronounced the order after the completion of arguments by the counsel for both sides.

The suspects included Peshawar University Teachers Association president Prof Jamil Ahmad Chitrali, Prof Iqbal and four others, including women.

The complainant in the case is university treasurer Asma Ibrahim. The FIR of the case was registered by the University Campus police station on Jan 17, 2022.

The complainant had alleged that she had to lock herself inside her house at the Professors Colony when the six suspects trespassed on it, filmed the labourers working there, and hurled threats at them.

Saifullah Muhib Kakakhel and Nouman Muhib Kakakhel, lawyers for the accused, rejected charges against their clients and insisted that the FIR was a mere allegation and there was no judicial evidence available with the prosecution to connect them with the case.

They said the videos and pictures provided by the prosecution were not acceptable as evidence without a forensic test of the same to rule out editing and modification in light of a recent judgement of the Supreme Court.

The lawyers argued that all suspects held PhD degrees and were specialists of their respective fields and their arrest by the police would harm their reputation in the eyes of their students and public at large.

They contended that the suspects neither threatened labourers in the Professors Colony nor did they damage property, so they were falsely implicated in the case.

The counsel said the offences mentioned in the FIR were bailable in nature.

They contended that the FIR was false and frivolous in nature, and was meant to harass and traumatise teachers due to a tussle between them and administrative officers of the university.

Published in Dawn, May 31st, 2022