Two nurses booked for blasphemy in Faisalabad

Hospital staff accuses nurses of removing stickers with religious scriptures from a cupboard in a psychiatric ward

LAHORE:

Police in Faisalabad have booked two nurses of the district headquarters (DHQ) hospital on blasphemy charges.

Several staff members of the hospital reportedly protested against the two nurses on Friday accusing them of blasphemy after they allegedly removed stickers with religious texts written on them from a cupboard.

Some of the charged protesters also attacked a police mobile van which had arrived to shift the nurses to police station. Police managed to secure the nurses inside the vehicle to save them from harm.

According to police, the two nurses had removed a sticker inscribed with religious inscription from a cupboard in the psychiatric ward of the hospital.

Read more: LHC grants bail to blasphemy accused

Deputy Medical Superintendent Dr Muhammad Ali filed a petition with the Civil Lines Police claiming that a hospital committee had confirmed the blasphemy allegations against the nurses.

A team led Civil Lines DSP Rana Atta-ur-Rehman took the nurses into custody and evacuated them from the hospital.

The protesters included local clerics who demanded action against the accused. A case under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) has been registered.

The section reads:  “Whoever willfully defiles, damages, or desecrates a copy of the Holy Qur'an or of an extract therefrom or uses it in any derogatory manner or for any unlawful purpose shall be punishable with imprisonment for life.”