Mashal murder: Special bench defers appeal against bail

Dithers from recalling an order it had passed granting bail to the convicts

PESHAWAR: A special bench constituted to hear appeals against the bail granted to 25 people convicted of killing journalism student Mashal Khan, failed to reach a conclusion on Friday and adjourned proceedings without immediately listing a date for the next hearing.

“There are still complexities in the case which need proper deliberation,” observed the two-judge special bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC) comprising Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Atteeq Shah.

The bench had on February 27 had granted bail to 25 people — who had been sentenced to three years in jail by an anti-terror court in the Mashal murder case earlier this year. Mashal’s family had subsequently challenged the bail.

Barrister Amirullah Chamkani, who represents Mashal’s family and the K-P government argued that since all those released on bail had been convicted in the brutal lynching of Mashal Khan and were tried under the anti-terrorism law, they do not deserve to be released on bail.

The lawyer further contended that under the anti-terrorism law, the accused will not get bail until the appellate court decides their appeals.

Chamkani added that there was still a ray of hope for the victim’s family as, under the rules, the bench which grants the bail also has the jurisdiction to recall it.

Therefore, he asked the bench that since they had granted bail to the 25 convicts they can pass an order recalling their previous order and provide justice to Mashal’s family.

When the lawyer asked if the same bench will continue hearing of the appeals, the bench responded that it was not certain.

“It is not obligatory for the same bench to hear the case and the chief justice of PHC will decide which judge or bench will hear the appeal,” the judges observed.

The PHC chief justice on September 5 had ordered the constitution of the special bench to hear the case.

Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student of the Department of Mass Communication at the Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, had been lynched by a mob over allegations of blasphemy on April 13, 2017.

The ATC conducted a trial of the suspects inside the Haripur Central prison, had convicted 31 of the accused. The court on February  7 awarded capital punishment to the prime accused under section 302(b) and section 7(1)(a) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). Another five suspects were sentenced to serve life in prison while 25 were sentenced to serve four years in prison.

The ATC, however, had acquitted 26 suspects for lack of evidence against them.

However, the PHC Abbottabad registry on February 27 heard applications for the suspension of sentences and granted bail to the 25 who had been sentenced to serve three years in prison. 

Published in The Express Tribune, September 15^th, 2018.