Due process: LHC frees man held on blasphemy charge

LAHORE:

Lahore High Court on Monday acquitted a man charged with blasphemy. Accused Ghulam Ali Asghar had been behind bars for four years.

In his detailed judgment, Justice Ibadur Rehman Lodhi said the prosecution had miserably failed to prove the charge levelled against Asghar. “It seems the trial court was under much pressure and convicted the appellant without there being any corroborative and confidence-inspiring evidence available on record. Conviction and sentence recorded by the trial court against the appellant is not sustainable; the same is set aside. The appellant is ordered to be set at liberty, if not required in any other criminal case,” he stated.



Citing a judgment of the Supreme Court in a blasphemy case, Justice Lodhi stated that a majority of blasphemy cases were based on false accusations stemming from property issues or other personal or family vendettas rather than genuine instances of blasphemy. They inevitably lead to mob violence against the entire community.

“The [Lahore] High Court in 2002 had given guidelines to the police to deal with blasphemy cases. However, in a case registered in 2011, the investigation agency has not bothered to take any guidance. The investigation in this case was not conducted in an efficient and perfect manner,” the court said.

“The increase in the number of registration of blasphemy cases and the element of mischief involved therein call for extra care on the part of the prosecuting officers. Registration of such cases cannot be allowed in a very free and careless manner. A class of citizens who have not much knowledge or religion must not be allowed to use the blasphemy law to settle their score,” the judge said.

Naseer Ahmed had lodged an FIR against Asghar with Talagang Saddar police. He had accused him of uttering blasphemous remarks. The complainant was not an eye witness to the alleged incident and had instead lodged the FIR after hearing about it from two others, Muhammad Ahsan and Muhammad Akram.



The court in its judgment held that one of the witnesses was a professional driver and the other too had no knowledge about religious teachings. Appearing before the court, accused Asghar denied the charges. The investigation officer told the court said that he had held Asghar guilty after consulting various religious scholars. Regarding this, the judge observed that the officer had not mentioned such a scholar by name or produced him as a witness.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th,  2016.