PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Monday granted bail to three suspects arrested on charges of killing a transgender person and injuring another in Mardan district three months ago.

A single-member bench consisting of Justice Syed M Attique Shah accepted bail petitions of the suspects, namely Shah Zaib, Atif and Asad, on condition of furnishing two sureties of Rs100,000 each.

The transgender person, namely Sadiq alias Coconut, was killed and her friend, Salman alias Wara injured when they came under attack on March 26, 2022.

The injured transgender individual, who is complainant in the case, had told the police that they had gone to Charsadda for performing in a function, and when they were travelling back to Mardan in a car, two armed motorcyclists fired at them, which resulted into the death of Sadiq.

Subsequently, the police arrested the three petitioners, claiming they had previous history of harassing the complainant and the deceased.

Petitioners’ counsel Shabbir Hussain Gigyani contended that the incident had occurred at night-time, wherein the attackers were not visible.

He pointed out that while the complainant had claimed if attackers came before her she could identify them the police had not conducted the identification parade of the petitioners after their arrest to prove they were the actual attackers.

The counsel contended there was no evidence against the petitioners and they could not be kept behind bars merely on the basis of rumours.

He contended that the investigation officer had poorly conducted investigation in the case and falsely implicated the petitioners.

Published in Dawn, June 21st, 2022