Blasphemy case: Court rejects suspect’s second bail plea

LAHORE: A court has dismissed the second plea for post-arrest bail of a suspect accused of blasphemy in Lahore. An additional district & sessions judge dismissed the plea as the petitioner did not mention the details of a similar application filed earlier.

In his judgment, Judge Ijaz Ahmad stated the plaintiff’s first request for post-arrest bail was dismissed on merits on August 23, 2014 and this fact was not mentioned in this second bail plea. In this backdrop, the delay in conclusion of the trial could not be attributed mainly to the prosecution alone.

The judge dismissed the second plea for having no convincing grounds.



The petitioner’s counsel had submitted the suspect has been behind the bars for two years and not a single witness had come forward for testimony. He added the petitioner was entitled to be released on bail on statutory grounds.

He contended the suspect had not sought any adjournments and he was implicated in a fake case through an unfounded FIR. The accused has no criminal record, the counsel argued, requesting the court to release the suspect on bail.The complainant’s counsel opposed the bail, contending there was no delay from his side as the suspect was caught red-handed and substantial evidence was available on record proving his guilt.

The deputy district public prosecutor submitted that 57 dates were fixed for hearing of this case and the case was not heard on three dates owing to lawyers’ strikes, on 15 dates owing to leave of presiding officers, on four hearings because of the absence of the suspect. On 14 occasions, the complainant or witnesses were present in the court so there was no delay on the prosecution’s part.

Complainant Hamad Mehfooz got the FIR registered at Naseerabad police station under Section 295B of the Pakistan Penal Code against the suspect.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st , 2016.