PESHAWAR, Feb 6: An additional district and sessions judge here on Tuesday confirmed pre-arrest bails of three clerics charged with spreading religious hatred through illegal radio stations.

The court presided over by Fazal Sattar Khan allowed them bail on the condition of furnishing two sureties of Rs100,000 each.

The applicants -- Maulana Alam Sher of Siddique Akber Mosque, Maulana Abdullah of Furqan-i-Hameed seminary and Maulana Hazrat Ghulam of Darul Hifz seminary -- of Akhunabad belong to two rival religious groups which have been locked in armed clashes in the Khyber Agency. Maulana Alam and Maulana Abdullah are reported to belong to the Mufti Munir Shakir group and Maulana Ghulam to the Pir Saifur Rehman group.

An FIR was registered against them at Pandhu police station on Dec 15 after a letter had been sent to the provincial police chief by the NWFP home department. The department alleged that the three had been fanning religious hatred in the area and instigating people against their rivals by airing fiery speeches through their FM stations.

The FIR was registered under Sections 295-A (insulting religious beliefs of any class) and 153-A (promoting enmity between groups) of Pakistan Penal Code with Section 33(3) of the Pemra Ordinance, 2002.

Later, the prosecution removed Sections 295-A and 153-A from the FIR after conducting an inquiry during which about 30 inhabitants of the area claimed that they had never heard any objectionable speech from the said stations.

Advocates Ishtiaq Ibraheem and Noor Alam Khan appeared for the applicants and contended that they had been falsely implicated in the case.

Noor Alam Khan argued that under Section 34 of the Pemra Ordinance no court could take cognizance of an offence except on written complaint from the regulatory authority or any officer authorised by it. He argued that the police had no authority to register a case under the ordinance.