Alleged blasphemy case: Family vanishes after Intermediate student’s arrest

Jail superintendent says they are hiding the teenager’s identity from staff, inmates.

KARACHI: The family of 17-year-old Sami, an Intermediate student accused of writing blasphemous comments in his exams, has gone into hiding, while the young man himself is being forced to hide his own identity at the juvenile jail.

The police say they have done their best to contact the family, who lived in Hassan Mujtaba Town, al Falah.

Syed Sami Ullah ran into trouble while frustrated in his Physics and Islamiat exams last year. He was arrested by the Sharae Noor Jahan police last month after the Board of Intermediate Education in Karachi (BIEK) lodged a case against him after going through the process of checking papers. Later, the police moved him to the juvenile jail.

Sami has already given a statement that he had written the remark out of frustration when he was not able to answer the exam question. He also said he was mentally disturbed after his father’s death.

The disappearance of his family has caused a further block in the investigation and at present, the officials are trying to trace them. Investigation Officer (IO) Inspector Qudrat Shah Lodhi told The Express Tribune that there is no progress in the case as the statements of the family are needed before the case can proceed. “Since the day of his arrest, his family has not contacted the police,” the investigation officer revealed. “We found the house locked. It seems that they have left and their neighbours also confirmed their disappearance.”

The landlord, who owns the house, also confirmed that the family has moved away. “I do not know why they left,” said landlord Zohaib. “They moved a day after the arrest and then five days ago, without informing anyone, they came to take their belongings.”

Neighbours, friends comment

The family had been living in the house for the last 10 years, paying a rent of Rs5,000 per month.

A neighbour, Imran, said that it was a good idea to move because everyone in the area knew them.

“Sami’s mistake has caused a tragedy that is affecting the entire family,” said neighbour Iqbal, adding that everyone was “shocked” to hear about the case.

However, several other residents chose not to comment, closing their doors quickly when asked about the family.

Sami’s friends, on the other hand, are worried about him. “He’s a really funny guy. How could he have done this? He never said things like this to us,” said childhood friend and college fellow Owais. “He would just spend most of his time forwarding and sending funny text messages.”

Owais said they often talked about Sami and the whole case but now they have decided not to “discuss the matter because it is a sensitive issue and God knows who is right and who is wrong”.

Juvenile jail conditions

While the police have been unable to find the family, the jail superintendent said they visited Sami in prison. “Yes, they visited Sami,” Superintendent Rafiq Awan said, adding that it was the family’s right to visit an inmate. He said that he is ready to assist the investigators in contacting the family while the IO added that he has told the jail staff to inform him when they visit again.

Sami is being kept in the juvenile jail, where more than 150 inmates are living in three different wards. Most of them were sent to jail in cases of theft. They are between 16 to 18 years old and the wards are divided by age.

Jail officials expressed fears that Sami may be attacked by other inmates. They said they have already conveyed their reservations to higher officials and have even taken steps themselves to ensure his safety.

Sami has been kept with around 20 other inmates, mostly 17 years old.

“First we informed the high-ups about the sensitivity of the case and later we took precautionary measures to secure the accused,” Awan said. “It is a Muslim state and we cannot take it easy because any person inside the jail can attack him.”

However, he said that nobody in the jail, including inmates and staff, was aware of why Sami has been imprisoned. “Only the accused and I know he has been accused of blasphemy,” he said.

According to the superintendent, Sami has been living in jail like the other prisoners. He is playing cricket, badminton and studying at the education institution inside the jail. “We can shift him to a special ward but this step would be harmful for Sami because then everyone in the jail would know why he’s been sent here.”

Past blasphemy case

Jagdesh Kumar’s case was one of the most prominent blasphemy cases in Karachi. Twenty-seven-year old Kumar, a Hindu by religion and factory worker by profession, was accused of blasphemy by his co-workers at a leather factory in the Korangi Industrial area on April 8, 2008. He was beaten to death but later, it was discovered his “actual crime” was something else. Even though the case was not resolved, it was said that Kumar’s fault was to fall in love with a Muslim girl at the factory. This is what he was murdered for and in full view of two police mobiles with 12 policemen who stood by along with two of the factory’s managers and a director. The crazed mob beat him with iron rods, hammers and went so far as to puncture his eyes with screwdrivers.

With precedents like these, the police have to be extra careful, said the IO. “We cannot trust anyone because it is a matter of religion. If Salmaan Taseer can be gunned down by his own security guard, it is also possible that the family is trying to protect itself because it feels insecure in these circumstances.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 12^th, 2011.