MUZAFFARABAD: A Pakistani court granted bail yeterday to a couple who confessed to murdering their daughter with acid, citing lack of evidence and witnesses, lawyers said.
Police arrested Mohammad Zafar and his wife Zaheen Akhtar a week after the October 29 attack on their 15-year-old daughter Anusha, who died in agony from horrific burns in Pakistan-administered Kashmir after allegedly looking at boys.
But district and sessions judge Munir Gilani granted bail because “police had no evidence and they could produce no witnesses,” public prosecutor Mohammad Ali Rathor told reporters.
“The court found it a weak case and, giving the benefit of doubt, granted bail to her parents,” he said.
“No one appeared on behalf of the deceased girl and no human or women rights activists came to pursue the case,” Rathor added.
Defence lawyer Riaz Naveed Butt said the couple were released in Kotli, 130 kilometres (80 miles) north of regional capital Muzaffarabad, after depositing bonds worth 100,000 rupees ($1,020) each.
“My plea was that she was not killed, she committed suicide,” Butt said.
He said that Anusha, who spent two days in agony in hospital, had failed to give a statement naming her killers before she died.
AFP
