PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has rejected bail plea of three persons arrested on charges of killing an undertrial prisoner and injuring a cop on the premises of Judicial Complex in Kabal tehsil, Swat, around two months ago.

A single-member bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Ijaz Khan observed that the petition filed by the three accused persons including Khan Bahadur and his two sons, Sahibzada and Zahid Khan, was meritless and hence dismissed.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at Kabal police station on Nov 29, 2022, under section 302, 324, 186, 337-A and 34 of the Pakistan penal Code and section 15 of the Arms Act.

The complainant in the FIR was Saidullah, brother of the deceased person named Nazir.

He told police that his brother Nazir had been imprisoned at Swat district prison for the last four years on charges of killing his rival named Wahid Khan.

Undertrial prisoner was killed on court premises in Swat two months ago

He stated that on the day of occurrence his brother was brought from prison to the Kabal Judicial Complex where he was under trial before the court of an additional district and sessions judge.

He alleged that the accused-petitioner Khan Bahadur, father of Wahid Khan who was killed earlier by Nazir, attacked his brother (Nazir) with a knife, while the remaining two accused persons opened fire at him. He stated that as a result of knife blows and firing his brother received injuries and later expired at a hospital whereas constable Gul Nazir also received injuries.

The accused persons were arrested on the spot by the policemen present there.

The bench observed that the stance of the complainant was duly supported by the medico-legal/ postmortem report of the deceased, which prima facie connected all the three accused/petitioners with the commission of the offence.

The petitioners’ counsel contended that the ocular account was not supported by the medical evidence.

However, the bench observed that since all the three accused/petitioners were arrested on the spot by the local police with a blood stained knife and pistols from their direct possession, which supported the version of the complainant, therefore, such plea in the given facts and circumstances loses its significance.

Assistant advocate general, Saeed Ahmad, appeared for state whereas advocate Mukaram Shah represented the complainant.

They contended that the petitioners were caught red-handed by the police and they were not entitled to the concession of bail.

Meanwhile, the bench also rejected bail plea of an accused charged with the killing of his wife in Lower Dir last year.

The bench observed that on tentative assessment of the available record, the accused/petitioner Safiullah was connected with the commission of the offence, which also fell in the prohibitory clause of section 497 of the CCP.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered on Mar 15, 2022, at Lal Qila police station in Lower Dir.

The complainant in the case was Inamullah, brother of the deceased woman Maryam Bibi.

The motive behind the murder was stated to be strained relations between the spouses.

The complainant claimed that his sister had come to her parents’ house from where she left with the accused/ petitioner. He claimed that on way home the accused had fired at her and he did not even bother to shift the deceased, who was then injured, to the hospital or to inform the local police.

The bench observed that in case of unnatural death of a wife some part of onus shifted to the husband to explain the cause of death of his wife.

Published in Dawn, January 30th, 2023