PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has granted bail to a Swat resident, who was suspected of being involved in the honour killing of his wife and a man over three months ago.

Accepting the bail petition of suspect Akhtar Ali, Justice Shahid Khan of a single-member bench directed him to submit two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each for release.

The FIR of honour killings was registered at Swat’s Shaheedan Wenai police station on July 22, 2023, under sections 302 and 311 of the Pakistan penal Code and Section 15 of the Arms Act.

The complainant in the FIR was station house officer of that police station Mohammad Zaib Khan, who claimed that he along with a police team went to the crime site after learning about the murder of a man and a woman and found out that the deceased were killed by the petitioner, who suspected that the two had an extramarital affair.

He is accused of killing his wife, a man

The bench observed that records of the case divulged that the incident was “prima facie unseen in its nature.”

It added that the complainant in the case had neither disclosed the name of the person who informed him about the involvement of the petitioner in the crime nor did he produce any other “cogent and reliable information, which could prima facie spoke about the guilt or otherwise of the petitioner.”

Lawyers Saeed Khan, Askar Khan and Dunya Zeb appeared for the petitioner and contended that there was neither any witness to the murders nor was there any private complainant in the case.

They added that the murders took place at nighttime and that there was no evidence to connect the petitioner with the commission of the offence.

Meanwhile, the bench also granted bail to a man and his three sons arrested on the charge of killing their female relative in Lower Dir district over a month ago.

It accepted the joint bail petition of suspects on the condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.

The petitioners included Lower Dir resident Habib Khan and his sons, including Talim Khan, Owais Khan and Zarif Khan, who were booked for the murder of Habib’s daughter-in-law Nish Bibi.

The deceased was married to Habib’s son Dawood Khan, the prime suspect in the case, who went abroad after the killing.

The FIR of the murder was registered at Asbanr police station, Lower Dir, on Sept 23, 2023, wherein mother of the deceased woman was complainant.

The complainant claimed that her daughter was married to Dawood six years ago but she was issueless and she often asked her husband for her medical treatment.

She claimed that for the same reason, the relations between the couple were strained and that she was mistreated by her husband and in-laws and were also tortured by them.

The complainant said she had received information that her daughter had died after which she visited her residence and found her body lying on her bed.

She alleged that her daughter was strangled by the accused.

Counsel for the petitioners, Shabbir Khan Daulatkhel, insisted that the prosecution’s case was based on rumours, while no evidence was available of the involvement of the petitioners in the case.

On Oct 12, 2023, the bail application of the petitioners was rejected by an additional sessions judge in Chakdara area of Lower Dir district.

Published in Dawn, November 6th, 2023