PESHAWAR: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench has granted bail to two brothers arrested on the charge of killing their sister and a man in the name of ‘honour’ over two months ago in Matta area of Swat district.

Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim accepted a petition jointly filed by the accused, including Naik Amal and Mohammad Shah, on the condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs500,000 each.

The case was registered against the petitioners and their brother, Mohammad Aziz Khan, at the Matta police station on Oct 2, 2021, under different provisions of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Complainant in the FIR was assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Gohar Ali, who said he had learned about the presence of the bodies of a man and a woman in Bara Mera area in the jurisdiction of his police station and therefore, he went to the place and found the bodies to be lying in a pool of blood.

The ASI also said the residents told him that the slain woman’s brothers had killed her and her alleged lover.

He said the police later arrested the petitioners and initially, their bail petition was rejected by an additional district and sessions judge in Swat on Nov 9, 2021.

Sher Mohammad Khan and Anwar Ali, lawyers for the petitioners, contended that their clients were falsely implicated in the case and there was no witness to the killings.

They contended that the complainant was not a witness to the occurrence and that he had nominated the petitioners in the case merely on the basis of hearsay.

The counsel said the call data record of their clients petitioners confirmed that their clients were not present at the murder venue when the crime was committed.

They contended that the petitioners had not recorded any confessional statement and were entitled to the concession of bail under Section 497 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

An additional advocate general appeared for state and contended that the petitioners were directly named in the FIR and their names were mentioned in it following an investigation by the relevant police official.

He added that the motive for murders was clear and that killing a person for the sake of ‘honour’ was a non-bailable offence.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2021