PESHAWAR, Oct 18: Peshawar district and sessions judge Shehbar Khan on Thursday acquitted five people named in two Upper Dir cases about the pressuring of a family to hand over a minor girl to a rival family under the custom of swara and the subsequent killings of her father and brother.

The judge announced acquittal of the five in a short order, observing that the prosecution had failed to prove charges against them and that the evidence on record didn’t link them with the commission of the offence.

About the case related to swara, the court observed that the relevant provision of Pakistan Penal Code only dealt with giving a female for resolving a dispute and in the case in question, the minor girl had not been given to anyone and had been living with her family.

The accused, Naqeeb Ahmad, Sherullah, Izzat Mohammad, Nasrullah and Wazir Mohammad, were arrested at the intervention of the Peshawar High Court. They were however later granted bail by the Darul Qaza (circuit bench) in Swat in the case of swara.

However, they excluding Nasrullah and Wazir remained imprisoned for also being charged with the murder of the girl’s father and brother.

Brother of the girl, Hafeezur Rehamn, had alleged that after his father had declined to accept the demand of the rival group, he was killed along with his brother in broad daylight.

A prime suspect in both the cases, Sher Ahmad, has been absconding for around a year.

Sohail Akhtar was the lawyer for the accused, while Shan Asghar represented the complainant.

Both the crimes had taken place in a faraway mountainous area of Kalkot in Upper Dir district.

Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan had taken suo motu notice of the crimes after Hafeezur Rehman had appeared along with his four-year-old sister on Dec 19, 2011, and submitted an application for hearing into them.