PESHAWAR, Nov 8: A couple charged with torturing their minor daughter to death were granted an interim pre-arrest bail by a local court on Wednesday. The court of additional district and sessions judge Fazal Sattar Khan fixed Nov 14 for the next hearing in the bail application filed by the girl’s father, Dr Arshid, and stepmother, Shumaila.

Eight-year-old Faiza died a few days ago under mysterious circumstances. Her father had claimed at the time that she accidentally received some injuries at school which had resulted in her death.

The girl’s grandmother, however, suspected that her son and daughter-in-law had tortured her to death.

On Friday, the child’s body was exhumed following a court order and the autopsy had proved that the girl had been tortured severely.

On the basis of the post-mortem report, the Pahari Pura police station registered an FIR against the couple, charging them with killing the girl.

The girl’s grandmother had filed a complaint before a local judicial magistrate and requested exhumation of the body. She claimed that the school administration had rejected the claims made by the girl’s father.

The girl had been living with her grandmother for many years after her mother had been divorced by her father.

The complainant had claimed that a month ago, Dr Arshid had gone to her and after an exchange of hot words on a domestic issue had taken away his daughter.

According to her, she had heard that her granddaughter was often tortured by Dr Arshid and his second wife.