PESHAWAR, April 15: A local civil court has issued notices to the federal and NWFP home departments and NWFP Inspector-General of Police in a damages suit filed by father of a medical student who was killed in an aerial firing.

The civil judge, Mr Rashid Rauf, fixed April 21 for preliminary hearing of the case.

The damages suit for the recovery of Rs30 million from the defendants has been filed by Mr Attiqur Rehman whose daughter, Shawana Attique, died few months back after she was hit by a stray bullet here in Saddar. The deceased was a student of the Khyber Medical College and had gone to the market for shopping along with her mother.

The defendants in the suit are the NWFP IGP and federal and provincial home departments. In the suit, filed through advocate Amjid Zia, the plaintiff said it was the responsibility of the defendants to check aerial firing.

The plaintiff claimed that aerial firing was a crime under the law and was completely banned, but despite that precious lives were being lost due to this menace. He further said that his daughter lost her life due to the negligence of the law-enforcement agencies.