Alleged blasphemy: Student’s jail custody expires, case stalls

KARACHI: It has been a little over two weeks since a 17-year-old student was sent to jail on blasphemy charges — a time period that allows the police to come up with the charge -sheet. His judicial custody has expired but no headway has been made and now the prosecuting authority is in quandary over how to deal with the case.

The student was arrested towards the end of January, after the controller of examinations of the Board of Intermediate Education reported to the police that he had allegedly written blasphemous remarks in his Islamiat and Physics papers last year.

The case was again fixed for hearing on Thursday before Judicial Magistrate Central Ehsan Ali Malik. But the prosecutor returned the charge sheet, directing the investigating officer to discuss it with his supervisory officer. When the investigating officer took the charge sheet to the district prosecutor, it was returned from this office as well. It appeared that there were procedural mistakes and the case should have been registered with the district east and not with the district central. He was arrested by the Sharae Noor Jehan police.

The student was brought to the city court from the juvenile jail on Thursday but he was not produced before the magistrate over fears of security. His jailer has kept his identity secret as well, for fear that he may be attacked inside. His family also appears to have distanced themselves. The student had earlier confessed to committing the “unpardonable sin”. He said he regretted his actions, and had promised that he would never commit “such a sin again”.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 18^th, 2011.