PESHAWAR, May 22: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday set aside conviction of three people by a Mardan court for murdering a bridegroom on third day of his marriage.

A bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth observed that there was conflict in the evidence of the prosecution witnesses, including the relatives of the dead man, so the benefit of doubt would go to the convicts.It accepted appeals of convicts Taj Wali Shah, Shahid and Ibrahim.

The three were convicted by a lower court in Mardan district on Jan 28, 2011. Taj Wali was sentenced to death, while Shahid and Ibrahim got life sentence. The complainant in the case was Akbar Ali shah, father of the dead man, Fahim.

According to him, his son and Ms Neelum got married on Dec 13, 2009 of their own free will.

On the third day of their marriage, his family and the couple were invited by the family of Ms Neelum to Peshawar and had sent their driver Shahid along with their vehicle to pick them up.

He claimed that he along with Fahim, Neelum, his wife and another son accompanied the driver and on their way, the driver stopped the car in the jurisdiction of Toru police station and the other two accused disembarked his son from the car before Taj Wali shot him dead. The accused were arrested the same day. — Bureau Report