PESHAWAR, April 30: A single-member bench of the Peshawar High Court on Monday confirmed pre-arrest bail of a Russian woman in a theft case filed by her estranged husband and expressed serious reservations about the role of the Charsadda police in the case.

Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan pronounced the order after hearing arguments from both parties and said the police had brought a bad name to the country in the case.

“What message you want to convey to the world about our national character. Because of the people like you, the people in the rest of the world think negatively about us,” he said reprimanding two officials of Charsadda police, who appeared before the bench.

Earlier, the court had granted interim pre-arrest bail to Kristina Petrochenkova, who changed her name to Parveen after embracing Islam on March 26, on condition of furnishing personal surety bond of Rs20,000.

It had also ordered protection by police to her as she insisted she faced life threats from her husband, Ikramullah Khan, from whom she seeks divorce due to estrangement.

Also in the day, the bench confirmed bail to two brothers in an honour-related triple murder of their sister-in-law and her two children after an investigation revealed that the three were killed by the dead woman’s brother and other family members.

Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan directed the officials of police’s crime branch investigating the case to collect more evidence against the suspects.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice of these murders over an application sent by a sister of the two arrested persons, Mohammad Iqbal and Mohammad Ashfaq, requesting the court to inquire into the matter. The chief justice had ordered re-investigation in the case through officials of police’s crime branch.

Also, the bench dismissed bail petition of a person charged with killing his wife and showing as if she had committed suicide, and ordered the relevant court to conclude trial within eight months.