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A single-member Peshawar High Court bench has granted bail to a man accused of forcibly kidnapping a Hindu girl for marriage a few days ago.
Justice Syed M Attique Shah accepted the bail petition of the prime accused in the case, Ubaidur Rehman, on the condition he furnish two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each, according to Dawn. Earlier, an additional district and sessions judge had granted bail to seven co-accused in the case but turned down the plea of the main accused prompting him to move the high court for release on bail. Further, a First Information Report was registered at the East Cantonment police station in Peshawar on December 20 on the complaint of a Hindu woman, Shakuntla Bibi, who had accused the petitioner and his alleged facilitators of kidnapping her adopted daughter. Also, the case was registered under the Pakistan Penal Code's Section 365-B (kidnapping of a woman to compel her for marriage). Further, following the registration of FIR, the local police had recovered the girl from Rawalpindi and arrested eight suspects, according to Dawn. The complainant had adopted the girl and her brother in 2006 when they were infants. Advocate Asfandyar Khan appeared for the petitioner and contended that his client had not kidnapped the girl and that she had gone away with his client of her own free will. Meanwhile, The lawyer said seven of the suspects named in the case had already been released on the bail granted by the subordinate court. On the other hand, the complainant's counsel opposed the bail petition and said the 'abductee' was a minor girl and her kidnapping for the purpose of marriage was a heinous offence. He argued that the petitioner was already married and had two children. The lawyer argued that the girl's statement was recorded under duress as she was influenced by the suspects, according to Dawn. (ANI)
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