PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Friday granted bail to an accused arrested in connection with an honour-related double-murder of his wife and another person over a decade ago in Upper Dir.

A single-member bench of Justice Shahid Khan accepted bail petition of accused Lajbar Khan on condition of furnishing two surety binds of Rs200,000 each.

As the petitioner had remained absconder for around 14 years, the bench ruled: “As far as the abscondence of accused/petitioner is concerned, it is settled law that absconsion of an accused person by itself cannot be considered as a circumstance, sufficient to decline him bail.”

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at Wari police station on Nov 9, 2010, wherein the complainant was Hanifullah, brother of the deceased, Saifullah.

He had charged the petitioner, Lajbar Khan, and his brother, Tajbar Khan, who has still been absconding, for the murder of his brother as well as that of the petitioner’s wife.

The complainant had told the police that while he was busy in his maize crop, the two accused persons were talking to his brother Saifullah. He claimed that all of a sudden he heard gunshots and he saw that the accused Tajbar had was firing at Saifullah whereas the accused/petitioner Lajbar was standing near him.

He claimed that both the accused decamped from the scene and later on he came to know that they had also killed Lajbar’s wife inside their home.

While initially the motive for the murders was not given in the FIR, subsequently during investigation it transpired that the deceased persons for killed on pretext of honour.

The petitioner’s counsel, Safdar Naseer, argued that there was no evidence against his client and he could not be denied bail merely on the ground of him remaining an absconder.

He argued that the complainant had also not assigned the petitioner the role of firing at the deceased and had only stated that he (petitioner) was standing along with the other accused person.

“A bare look of the record would reveal that the effective role of firing upon the deceased brother of the complainant, Saifullah, has been attributed to the co-accused, Tajbar Khan, whereas the present petitioner has only been shown present on the spot at the time of commission of alleged offence committed by the co-accused,” the bench observed.

The court further observed that the trial court would be in a better position to adjudge after recording evidence as to whether the accused/petitioner had prima facie shared common intention with the co-accused or otherwise.

The bench observed that as far the murder of the female deceased was concerned, both the nominated accused had been assigned general role of firing upon her, therefore, it would be determined during trial that whose fire-shots proved effected causing her murder, especially, no medical evidence in the form of her postmortem report was available on file.

The bench referred to an earlier judgment of the Supreme Court wherein it was held that whenever even a slight doubt arises with respect to participation of an accused person in a crime, then it would be appropriate to grant bail to such a person instead of keeping him in jail.

Earlier, an additional sessions judge at Wari (Dir Upper) had declined bail to the accused on June 7, observing that strong prima facie case existed against him, while prohibitory clause of section 497 of the Code of Criminal procedure was also attracted.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2024