PESHAWARE: Peshawar High Court has granted bail to a man arrested in connection with honour-related murder of his wife around three years ago in Swat.

A bench consisting of Justice Shahid Khan accepted bail petition of the suspect named Islamud Din on condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at Shah Dehri police station, Swat, on January 20, 2021, wherein father-in-law of the deceased woman named Zamin Khan was the complainant.

The complainant told police that his son Islamud Din was settled in Saudi Arabia in connection with earning livelihood, whereas his daughter-in-law allegedly eloped with one of his relatives named Ihsanullah.

FIR of crime was registered in Swat on Jan 20, 2021

The complainant stated that as result of the happening, his son returned to country and brought back his wife to home from that of her sister. He claimed that his son proceeded back to Saudi Arabia on January 19, 2021, whereas during wee hours on January 20, 2021, Ihsanullah entered their house and tried to forcibly take away the deceased woman and killed her on her resistance.

Few days after the occurrence, siblings of the deceased woman recorded their statements wherein they exonerated Ihasnullah and charged Islamud Din for the commission of the offence.

The petitioner remained abroad for almost three years and was declared an absconder.

His counsel Rahimullah contended that at the time of commission of the offence his client was not present in Pakistan. He stated that merely being an absconder was not a ground for denying bail to the petitioner.

The petitioner was earlier denied bail by an additional sessions judge in Swat on January 18. That court had declared that the cold behaviour of the accused towards the murder of his wife could not be lightly ignored and death of the deceased inside the house of the accused prima facie connected him with the commission of the offence.

JUVENILE: A bench consisting of Justice Fazal Subhan Khan granted bail to a juvenile suspect arrested on charges of possessing narcotics.

The bench ordered the petitioner to submit two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.

The prosecution claimed that the petitioner was apprehended by police when he was having a plastic bag from which different quantities of charas and ice (crystal meth) were recovered.

A case was registered against him at Yaqoob Khan Shaheed police station, Takht-i-Nusrati, Karak, on October 22, 2023, under section 9 and 11 of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Control of Narcotics Substance Act.

The petitioner’s counsel Bashir Ahmad Khattak contended that the samples from the alleged recovered narcotics were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory for chemical examination after a delay of five days, which made the prosecution case doubtful.

The bench observed that as per the secondary school certificate of the petitioner, at the time of occurrence his age was around 16 years, hence for all practicable purposes he was a juvenile.

The bench observed that under section 6 (1) of Juvenile Justice System Act, 2018, the petitioner deserved the concession of bail.

Moreover, the bench observed that after the alleged recovery no videography whatsoever was carried out and, therefore, an earlier judgment of the high court in that regard had not been complied with.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2024