Family feud?: One granted bail in murder of ex-IGP’s daughter-in-law

Bail application of the deceased’s brother rejected.

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday accepted the bail application of Fouzia Khalid who has been accused of involvement in the murder of Wahida, the daughter-in-law of former inspector general police (IGP) Islamabad Bani Amin.

PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan, however, rejected the bail application of Fouzia’s husband Khalid Khan and ordered departmental action against police officials, claiming a proper FIR was not registered at the University Town police station.

Counsel for the accused told the court Wahida died on May 19. Consequently, Wahida’s mother Zahida Bibi filed a case with the police, accusing her husband, son Khalid and daughter-in-law Fouzia of the murder.

“The post mortem report shows no signs of torture on the victim’s body and witnesses said they did not hear any sounds of struggle when the ‘murder’ took place,” argued Khalid’s counsel. He added since Wahida’s father Darya Khan was granted bail, so should his client.

Zahida’s lawyer Khwaja Muhammad Khan Gara, however, contended Wahida was killed by her father, brother and sister-in-law over domestic issues.

“The doctors in the post mortem report stated her death was caused due to suffocation. There were visible marks on her body. Because the family was influential, the motive behind the killing was not disclosed,” claimed Gara. He added when the body was taken to University Town police station, the police did not register an FIR and only lodged a routine report.

After hearing the arguments, the court granted Fouzia bail on a surety bond of Rs600,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2013.