CHARSADDA: A local court on Tuesday granted bail to a suspended police officer, Behramand Shah, prime suspect in the murder of a young lawyer, Mian Asim Shah Kakakhel, after a ‘compromise’ reached between the parties.

Additional sessions judge Akbar Ali directed the petitioner, who was SHO of Charsadda city police station at the time of the occurrence, to submit two surety bonds of Rs100,000 each.

The murder of Asim Shah on Aug 22 allegedly by a police party headed by the SHO, which had raided a jirga, had triggered massive protests by the lawyers’ community and also resulted into boycott of court proceedings across the province for three days.

The accused was arrested after his pre-arrest bail was rejected by the Peshawar High Court on Oct 3. In the instant case practicing licence of a senior lawyer, Shabbir Hussain Gigyani was also suspended by the bar council for his appearance for the accused, but subsequently the high court had restored the same.

A day earlier, the deceased’s father Mian Mohsin Shah and complainant, Syed Mohammad Zohaib had appeared before the court and submitted a compromise deed.

After oral inquiry their statements were recorded wherein they confirmed that a compromise had taken place between them and the accused and that they had waived their right of Qisas (retributive justice). They further stated that they had no objection on the release of the petitioner on bail.

The court had then appointed Ahad Ali Shah Advocate as local commission with the direction to record statements of the mother and wife of the deceased. The commission had then also recorded statements of the two women who had also endorsed the compromise.

Meanwhile, the court also confirmed pre-arrest bail of 12 other persons, including Mian Mukaram Shah and others, mostly relatives of the deceased and inhabitants of the area, who were charged by the police for the firing incident of Aug 22, during which two constables, Ilyas and Qasam, had allegedly suffered injuries.

The injured constables appeared along with the police officials, stating that they had entered into compromise with the rival party and had no objection over their bail.

A deputy superintendent of police, Raghib Khan, and inspector Gul Sher Khan, who were members of a joint investigation team, produced a letter about the compromise between the parties.

These petitioners were earlier granted interim pre-arrest bail by the court on Aug 27.

It merits a mention that a jirga was in progress in Charsadda to settle a dispute over a drain along the Ghani Khan Road when SHO Behramand Shah along with a party reached there.

The family members of the deceased lawyer, Mian Asim Shah claimed the SHO got involved in a verbal altercation with the deceased and allegedly opened fire, killing him on the spot.

The police claimed two of their constables had received injures during firing.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered after relatives of the deceased and workers of different political parties staged a protest and placed the body on the road.

Published in Dawn, October 29th, 2025