PHC acquits three accused of murder charges

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday acquitted three accused who had been separately charged in two murder cases. A special bench comprising Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Qalandar Ali Khan acquitted the two accused persons of murder charge after hearing arguments from both the parties and the state lawyer. The first appeal was filed by Banat, a resident of Swabi, through his lawyer Sahibzada Asadullah Khan, against life imprisonment by the additional and district sessions judge in the murder of Tariq Rahim in 2013.

During the hearing, Sahibzada Asadullah, counsel for the appellant, argued that as per the police report, there was a land dispute between the appellant and deceased. In the first information report, he explained, the complainant charged three persons for the murder, out of which the appellant was convicted, one was an absconder and the third had been killed.

He pointed out that there was conflict in statements of the witnesses. He prayed the court to set aside the conviction as he had been falsely charged in the case. In another murder case from Nowshera, the court acquitted two accused including Imran and Azizur Rehman of murder charges. During arguments, Ashfaq Ahmad Afridi, counsel for the appellants, submitted that the accused had been charged in the murder case of their cousin Mujahid, from Nizampur in Nowshera district in 2011.