PESHAWAR: Peshawar High Court has rejected bail plea of an accused arrested on charges of sexually assaulting a married woman at her residence in district Lower Chitral last year.

A single-member bench consisting of Justice Mohammad Naeem Anwar while rejecting petition of the accused Azizullah Khan observed that the trial before the trial court was in progress and so far only statement of the alleged victim had been recorded as prosecution witness whereas the prosecution had yet to examine the remaining witnesses.

The bench observed that at this initial stage the statement of the victim couldn’t be appreciated in isolation for granting bail to the petitioner rather it was the sole prerogative of the trial court to adjudge its evidentiary value in conjunction with statements of the remaining prosecution witnesses, which stage was yet to come.

The FIR of the alleged occurrence was registered at police station Koghozi, Lower Chitral on Sept 26, 2024, under section 376 (punishment for rape) and other provisions of Pakistan Penal Code.

The complainant in the FIR was husband of the alleged victim who claimed that on the fateful night he was present in Chitral bazzar in connection with earning livelihood. He stated that at morning time, he received telephonic information that an unknown person had entered his house and sexually assaulted his wife.

He claimed that the said unknown person was overpowered by some neighbours while he was decamping from the scene of occurrence.

A police party had visited the spot and taken into custody the said person who was identified as Azizullah Khan (petitioner).

His bail petition was earlier rejected by the high court on Oct 31, 2024, on merit.

The petitioner again approached the court on fresh ground that during the pending trial when the victim appeared as prosecution witness she had made material contradictions in her cross examination about allegations of sexual assault against the petitioner.

He stated that in view of these latest developments he may be set free on bail.

The bench observed that it appeared that the petitioner was bent upon to seek several remedies at the same time as his application for acquittal under section 265-K of the Code of Criminal Procedure was also pending before the trial court.

Without waiting for the decision of the said application, the bench observed, the petitioner preferred to file the instant bail petition on fresh ground.

“It is settled law that when accused person has an alternate remedy at his/ her disposal then concession of post arrest bail cannot be extended in favour of an under trial prisoner unless there are exceptional circumstances in the field which is not the case here,” the bench observed.

In the earlier judgment of rejecting the petitioner’s petition, the high court bench had observed that the record revealed that the accused-petitioner had directly been nominated in the FIR by the complainant for committing the offence when the victim was all-alone inside the premises of her house and that too during odd hours of the night.

It was added that arrest of the petitioner near the venue of crime prima facie indicated that he had committed an offence of lurking house trespass at night time upon the house of victim.

The bench had ruled that punishment provided for the offence of rape also attracted the restrictive clause of section 497 of the CrPC, while the material on record prima facie suggested involvement of the petitioner in commission of the offence, which was not only heinous in nature but against the basic norms of this traditional part of the country.

Published in Dawn, January 20th, 2025