HARIPUR: The Peshawar High Court’s divisional bench here on Thursday accepted the post-arrest bail of three suspects arrested on charges of abducting, sexual assaulting and murdering a minor girl.

The suspects were earlier denied bail by the local juvenile court.

Prosecution records show that a bakery worker’s four-and-a-half-year-old daughter went missing from the street outside her house in a semi-urban locality of Pathan Colony on August 10. She was later found dead in a dry well at the pointation of an 11-and-a-half-year-old suspect.

The police claimed that they had arrested three suspects, all aged below 18 years, with the help of CCTV footage and area geofencing.

One of three suspects recorded a confessional statement with the judicial magistrate, revealing that he and one of the two other suspects raped the girl. They were initially charged by complainant and girl’s father Mohammad Shafiq through a statement recorded before the judicial magistrate.

However, the fourth suspect, a rag picker, pointed out before the court the place where the body was dumped, prompting the complainant to formally clear three arrested suspects. Later, another investigation was conducted on the orders of the regional police officer.

However, the juvenile court rejected the bail petitions of three suspects on Sept 23.

Atif Ali Jadoon, lawyer for the petitioners, filed a bail petition with the PHC. After hearing arguments from both sides, Justice Tariq Afridi of the single-member bench on Thursday granted post-arrest bail to three suspects against Rs100,000 and two personal sureties each.

It also pointed out discrepancy in the process of arrest and recording of the confessional statement of one of three suspects, who, according to prosecution records, was arrested on August 21.

He recorded his confessional statement before the judicial magistrate on August 22 while the court noted that in response to a specific question, the suspect said that he remained with the police for five days.

“The apparent discrepancy, coupled with circumstances surrounding the recording of the alleged confession, raises a question regarding its authenticity and voluntariness,” the court observed granting bail to three suspects.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2026