Far from conclusion : Blasphemy accused denied bail
Petitioner’s counsel says client mentally-challenged
Holy Quran. PHOTO: FILE
LAHORE:
An additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday dismissed the post-arrest bail of a woman accused of desecrating a copy of the Holy Quran.
The counsel for the petitioner told the court that his client Shamshad Bibi had been framed in a false case. He said she was a woman of limited intellectual ability who could not discern the good from the bad. He said Bibi had been counselled to go see a psychiatrist. The counsel for the petitioner said this could not take place while she was imprisoned. He said she needed therapy. The counsel for the petitioner said her continued imprisonment posed a grave danger to her life.
Countering his arguments, Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, the counsel for the complainant told the court that the accused had been nominated in an FIR in a specific capacity.
He said Bibi herself was to be blamed for the trial’s lack of progress.
He said this was so as she had hired a lawyer to move her bail application but not to represent her at her trial. Chaudhry said she was not interested in witnessing her trial progress. He said the claim that the trial had not been progressing, therefore, was misleading.
Bibi has been in judicial lockup since 2012. Her trial has not been concluded despite the passage of over three years. Therefore, she is entitled to bail under Section 497 of the Criminal Procedure Code which allows a woman who has been continuously detained over a six-month period to be released if she has been refused bail.
An FIR was registered against Bibi in Hanjerwal area following a complaint by Qari Ishtiaq in July, 2012. The FIR was lodged under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to the document, Ishtiaq said Bibi had borrowed a copy of the Holy Quran from him to ostensibly recite the scripture.
He said she had dumped the copy of the Holy Quran in a manhole in the area after two days in front of one Iqbal. Ishtiaq said Bibi had blasphemed by doing so.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2016.
An additional district and sessions judge on Tuesday dismissed the post-arrest bail of a woman accused of desecrating a copy of the Holy Quran.
The counsel for the petitioner told the court that his client Shamshad Bibi had been framed in a false case. He said she was a woman of limited intellectual ability who could not discern the good from the bad. He said Bibi had been counselled to go see a psychiatrist. The counsel for the petitioner said this could not take place while she was imprisoned. He said she needed therapy. The counsel for the petitioner said her continued imprisonment posed a grave danger to her life.
Countering his arguments, Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, the counsel for the complainant told the court that the accused had been nominated in an FIR in a specific capacity.
He said Bibi herself was to be blamed for the trial’s lack of progress.
He said this was so as she had hired a lawyer to move her bail application but not to represent her at her trial. Chaudhry said she was not interested in witnessing her trial progress. He said the claim that the trial had not been progressing, therefore, was misleading.
Bibi has been in judicial lockup since 2012. Her trial has not been concluded despite the passage of over three years. Therefore, she is entitled to bail under Section 497 of the Criminal Procedure Code which allows a woman who has been continuously detained over a six-month period to be released if she has been refused bail.
An FIR was registered against Bibi in Hanjerwal area following a complaint by Qari Ishtiaq in July, 2012. The FIR was lodged under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code. According to the document, Ishtiaq said Bibi had borrowed a copy of the Holy Quran from him to ostensibly recite the scripture.
He said she had dumped the copy of the Holy Quran in a manhole in the area after two days in front of one Iqbal. Ishtiaq said Bibi had blasphemed by doing so.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 9th, 2016.