PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has turned down bail pleas of two persons including a woman arrested in Dir Upper district on charges of blackmailing people and snatching money from them at gun point.

A single-member bench of Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan while rejecting separate petitions of the two accused persons, Riyasat Khan and Saira Bibi, observed that the record indicated that there were other FIRs registered against both the petitioners, who indulged in such activities in the past to blackmail people and snatch money from them.

In this regard, the bench observed, several FIRs had been placed on file by the prosecution.

The FIR in the present case was registered at Wari police station on November 1, 2022, by a resident of Darora area, Razaullah, who charged both the petitioners of blackmailing and extorting money from him.

The complainant claimed that he was running a shoe shop in Darora and Saira Bibi used to purchase shoes from him. He claimed that she had not paid him any money for the shoes purchased by her on pretext that the entire amount would be paid later on.

Several FIRs have been registered against petitioners in Dir

The complainant said when he asked her to pay him the outstanding amount to the tune of Rs 50,000, he was told by her to visit her residence for receiving the money.

He alleged that on October 17, 2022, he went to her house where Riyasat Khan was also present. He alleged that the accused persons at gunpoint snatched Rs250,000 from him and also made his nude photos by putting him under life threat. Subsequently, he said, the two petitioners continued to blackmail him through the said obscene photos.

The petitioners’ counsel contended that his clients were falsely implicated in the case. He contended while the alleged occurrence had taken place on October 17, the FIR was registered after a delay of 13 days on November 8, 2022.

The bench observed that the conduct of both the petitioners was highly alarming when it was seen that both of them were not relatives and prima facie they were acting as a gang.

It was observed that the site plan of the occurrence would also show that it was a single-room residence where the female accused was living all alone and where the complainant was asked to visit and was subjected to inhuman and disgraceful treatment.

The court further observed that the statement of one Najeebullah had also been recorded under section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and he levelled identical allegations against the present petitioners.

Similarly, the bench observed that the elders of the locality also recorded their statements and stated that the petitioners indulged in snatching money from different people in the same manner as described by the complainant.

The bench ruled that in view of the peculiar facts and circumstances of this case, the petitioners were not entitled to the concession of bail even if the section of law for which they were charged did not fall within the prohibitory clause of section 497 of CrPC.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2023