PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has rejected bail plea of a suspect arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a six-year-old boy in Malakand district early this year.

A single-member bench of Justice wiqar Ahmad observed that on tentative appraisal of the record, petitioner Farmanullah was found connected with commission of the offence. The bench observed that the offence fell in prohibitory clause of Section 497 of Code of Criminal Procedure, therefore, the petitioner was not entitled to the concession of bail.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at Fazal Subhan Shaheed police station in Malakand on Jan 29, 2024, under Section 376 (rape) of Pakistan Penal Code and Section 53 (sexual abuse) of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Child Protection and Welfare Act.

Complainant in the FIR was father of the minor boy who initially charged an unidentified suspect for sexually assaulting his son. He stated that his son could identify the suspect.

Afterward, the complainant charged the petitioner after he was arrested and was also recognised by the minor victim in an identification parade on Feb 6, 2024. The petitioner`s counselcontended that his client was not directly charged in the FIR and there was considerable delay in his nomination in the case.

The bench observed thatinthe identification parade, the victim had been shown the present petitioner amongst set of numerous persons brought before him and he had recognised him. It added that the prosecution version was also supported by medico-legal report of the victim by a medical officer.

BAIL: The bench granted bail to two brothers arrested in connection with honour-related murder of their sister last month in Swat district.

The bench accepted the bail petition jointly filed by the two suspects named Fayaz Ali and Amjid Ali on condition of furnishing two surety bonds of Rs600,000 each.

Both the petitioners have been charged for the offence along with the husband and brother-in-law of the deceased woman Mohammad Iqbal and Daud, respectively.

The suspects allegedly had doubts about character of the deceased due to which they had decided to kill her. The bench observed that the petitioners had mainly been charged for their alleged role of abetment and hatching conspiracy of murder of their sister.

It observed that in the confessional statements of co-accused,the petitioners were just assigned the role of consultation but they were not mentioned to be present at the time of occurrence. It was added that the role of the present two petitioners, if any, may properly be adjudicated upon by the trial court after recording of evidence in the light of confessional statements of co-accused, however, cases of these petitioners were found requiring further probe.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at Manglawar police station on Oct 13 under sections 302 and 311 of Pakistan Penal Code.

The complainant was SHO of the police station, Raheem Khan, who stated that he received information about the murder of a woman whose body was present at local civil hospital.

He said when he reached the hospital he found the slaughtered body of the woman accompanied by her brother Sher Ali. He added that Sher Ali told him that the deceased was having strained relations with her husband Iqbal due to which she was residing at her parents` home.

She Ali told the SHO that the deceased was taken out to a nearby field by the said four suspects where she was slaughtered and her body was thrown in a ditch. He stated that the suspects were doubtful about character of the deceased woman.