PESHAWAR, April 14: A two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court has set aside the death sentence given to a person allegedly suffering from mental ailment and sent the case back to the qazi court concerned. The bench comprising Justice Ijaz Afzal and Justice Fazlur Rehman observed that the trial court should have ordered medical examination of the appellant once it had come on record that he was suffering from mental illness.

The appellant, Ilam Khan, was charged with killing a person named Dilbar Khan on Jan 14, 2003, in the jurisdiction of police station Matta, Swat. The appellant claimed that his father was killed by Dilbar Khan and he feared that he also would be killed for the reason of occupying his property.

An Izafi zila qazi in Swat had found the appellant guilty of the offence and sentenced him to death on Dec 12, 2004.

The appellant’s counsel, Asthagfirullah Khan, argued that in his statement during trial the accused had stated that he was suffering from mental ailments and had remained under treatment of Dr Haider Ali.

He argued that instead of conducting the medical examination of the appellant and referring him to a psychiatrist the trial court awarded him death sentence. He contended that under the law a mentally ill person could not be sentenced to death.

LIFTING OF BAN: The NWFP chapter of the Pakistan Flour Mills Association (PFMA) has welcomed the federal government’s decision of ensuring free inter-provincial movement of wheat.