Divorced for over a decade: Man accused of ex-wife’s murder denied bail

Court denies request of accused smuggler to get his passport back from ANF

PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court on Monday dismissed the bail application of a person accused of killing his ex-wife. Later, the accused was arrested from the courtroom. Justice Asadullah Chamkani was hearing the bail application of Gul Salam, a resident of Mardan.

The public prosecutor told the court the petitioner married a woman identified as Rahmina but their marriage did not last long due to domestic issues. The bench was told that after the divorce, Rahmina married another man. This act apparently infuriated Salam and 12 years after their divorce, he killed the woman.

Public Prosecutor Waqar Ahmad Khan said the petitioner was nominated in the FIR by the deceased’s brother, Bakhtiar Gul, and was released on bail by a trial court. Waqar argued the trial court ignored legal points during the proceedings.

The petitioner’s lawyer asked the court to grant Salam bail as he was 68 years old. The bench after hearing both arguments and going through the case file dismissed Salam’s bail application and ordered his arrest. Salam was taken from the courtroom.

Passport held

A division bench comprising Justice Irshad Qaiser and Justice Roohul Amin Chamkani dismissed the writ petition of a suspect who was arrested from Peshawar for smuggling narcotics to Saudi Arabia.

Ashiqur Rahman filed a writ petition to get his passport from the anti-narcotics force. The document was confiscated after he was arrested for possessing 620 grammes of heroin and 85 drug capsules. The petitioner told the court he had paid Rs0.6 million for a visa, so the passport should be returned so he could transfer it to his brother. ANF lawyer Iqbal Mohmand argued Rahman was smuggling narcotics abroad and was caught red-handed; therefore his plea should be rejected. The bench dismissed his petition.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 16^th, 2016.