Seven suspects in DI Khan girl stripping case granted bail

Report sought on quarantine centre set up in Dauranpur area

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Wednesday granted bail to seven suspects, implicated in a case of a girl who had been paraded naked in a Dera Ismail Khan village.

A division bench of the high court approved the bail on the condition that each of the suspects submits Rs150,000 in surety bonds.

On October 27, 2017, around a dozen armed men had broken into the home of a local woman, stripped her naked and paraded her around the village over a water dispute within the limits of the Chaudwan police station.



The DI Khan police had subsequently arrested most of the suspects in the case, apart from carrying out a forensic analysis of their electronic devices to trace fragments of what the victim had claimed were videos showing her being stripped and then paraded.

The girl had claimed in her petition that around two years before the incident, the prime suspect had blamed her brother for developing relations with a member of the suspect's family by handing over a cellphone and despite his denial on oath, the local Jirga had ordered her brother to pay a fine of Rs0.3 million to them.

Protecting residents

In a separate case, the PHC directed the Peshawar district administration to take extra precautionary measures to protect residents the Dauranpur area of the provincial capital where a quarantine centre has been set up.



A two-member bench of the PHC heard a petition filed by Amirzeb against the establishment of a quarantine centre in the densely populated area of the city.

The bench sought a detailed report on the arrangements made by the district administration at the quarantine centre and adjourned the case.

Lack of uniform charges for lab tests

A petition was filed in the PHC on Wednesday against the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Public Healthcare Commission for failing to impose uniform charges for medical tests at private laboratories in the province, despite court orders in this regard.

K-P Public Healthcare Commission chief executive, health secretary and health director-general were listed as the respondents in the petition. 

Published in The Express Tribune, April 2^nd, 2020.