PESHAWAR, Feb 1: Additional district and sessions judge Farhatullah Khan, on Tuesday granted bail to a woman accused by her husband of committing adultery.

The court ordered that the woman, Hidayat Bibi, should be released after furnishing two sureties of Rs100,000 each.

Hidayat Bibi was arrested by Faqirabad police after an FIR was registered under sections 10, 11 and 16 of the Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, 1979 on the complaint of her husband.

She had rejected the charges and stated that her husband, Wazir Khan, had filed a concocted case against her. Voice of Prisoners chief Noor Alam Khan appeared for Hidayat Bibi and contended that she was mother of a two-year-old baby girl who was also forced to live in jail as there was no one else to look after her.

He argued that there was no evidence on record to prove the charges of adultery against her. He contended that even the police investigation had proved that she was innocent and was falsely charged by her husband.

Mr Khan contended that the Peshawar SSP had marked an application to police station C-Division for looking into the allegations levelled by her husband, but the complainant registered an FIR with the Faqirabad police station where a police officer, Ijaz Haidri, who was accused of being biased by Hidayat Bibi, was posted which proved mala fide on their part. He added that the applicant resided in the Shadi Pir area which did not fall in the limits of PS Faqirabad.

Later, talking to reporters, Hidayat Bibi said that her husband had disappeared about a year ago after collecting money from various persons on the pretext of sending them abroad.

She claimed that a few days ago a Peshawar district and sessions judge sent her daughter, Ms Mussarat, to a shelter home on her application as she did not want to live with her husband who had kept her in illegal confinement.

She stated that her son-in-law, Iftikhar Ali, was annoyed by the court order and hatched a conspiracy in connivance with her husband Wazir and a police inspector Ijaz Haidri.

Hidayat Bibi hit the headlines in 1997 when she killed her first husband Khaista Khan and a police officer Roshan Khan, claiming that her husband had been forcing her into prostitution.

She was convicted in 1998 by a district and sessions judge. At that time, police officer Ijaz Haidri was suspended on the charge of torturing Hidayat Bibi while she was in custody.

Voice of Prisoners chief Noor Alam Khan appeared for Hidayat Bibi and contended that she was also keeping her daughter with her in the prison as there was no one else to look after the baby.

He argued that there was no evidence on record to prove the charges of adultery against her. He contended that even the police investigation had proved that she was innocent and was falsely charged by her husband.

Mr Khan contended that the Peshawar SSP had marked an application to police station C-Division for looking into the allegations levelled by her husband, but the complainant registered an FIR with the Faqirabad police station where Ijaz Haidri was posted which proved mala fide on their part. He added that the applicant resided in the Shadi Pir area which did not fall in the jurisdiction of PS Faqirabad.