PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court has granted bail to a man arrested over the “honour killing” of his sister-in-law in Lower Dir district three months ago.

Justice Dr Khursheed Iqbal of a single-member bench accepted the bail petition of suspect Shahid Khan, a resident of Talash area in Lower Dir, on condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.

The bench ruled that the records showed that there was no witness to the “honour killing” and the complainant had named the petitioner for it on the basis of hearsay, which had no “evidential worth” in the eyes of the law.

It added that “direct evidence was not available on record to reasonably connect” the petitioner with the offence.

Declares records show petitioner named over hearsay

The court observed that the circumstances of the case created reasonable doubt about the involvement of the petitioner in the woman’s murder.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at the Talash police station on April 23, 2023, wherein additional SHO Mohammad Rafique was the complainant.

The complainant said he had learned about the body of the 35-year old woman lying in a field, went there and learned thatthe deceased had extramarital relations with a resident.

He said that on that day, the deceased had gone away with that man in his car but was killed by her two brothers-in-law, including Shahid Khan and Amjad Khan, as she was walking toher home.

The complainant claimed that the woman, who was the wife of the suspects’ brother, Ibrahim, was killed at the instigation of their father, Khan Mohammad.

Khan Mohammad was granted bail by a lower court in the case. The name of the other suspect, Amjad Khan, was placed in Column II of the charge sheet as the police didn’t get any evidence of his presence at the place of the crime.

A daughter of the deceased had also recorded her statement before a magistrate claiming her mother was not killed by her uncles and instead, she was killed by her cousin Gohar.

She claimed that she had accompanied her mother in the vehicle of Gohar and had seen the two argue over an issue, which led him into firing gunshots at her on the way home.

Meanwhile, the bench also granted bail to a man suspected of killing his daughter-in-law over a domestic issue.

The bench accepted the bail plea of suspect Toor Sam, a resident of Bajaur tribal district, on condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs200,000 each.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at the Loy Mamond police station of Bajaur tribal district on June 16, 2023, with the woman’s father being the complainant.

The complainant alleged that his daughter was married to Kaleemullah, son of suspect Sam, around a year ago and she lived happily with him.

He said on the day of occurrence, he received information about the “unnatural” death of his daughter after which he rushed to the hospital and found her body there.

He charged both Sam and Kaleemullah with committing the offence but said the motive behind the murder was not known to him.

The police later arrested the petitioner.

The bench observed that in the FIR, two people were charged in the case, whereas according to the medical report, only one “entry wound” was found on the body of the deceased showing that no specific role was attributed to the petitioner.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2023