Two booked for alleged desecration

Two men were arrested and cases were registered against them on charges of desecration on Monday. According to the police report, a 42-year-old resident of Samundri allegedly entered a room and set fire to pages collected and kept there before being sent to the Quran Mahal in Chiniot. Samundri city police reached the spot and arrested the suspect. A case was registered against him on the complaint of Altaf Hussain, a resident of Housing Colony No. 1, under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The section reads: “Whoever wilfully 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.” According to Samundri City Police Station SHO Sub-Inspector Rai Farooq Ahmed, the suspect practised black magic. A small room had been built in a cemetery in Samundri to keep the pages that were submitted to the Quran Palace after every four months. Separately, in Chak No. 111JB Dholanwal on Jhumra Road, another man was suspected of sacrilege. Police arrested the suspect and registered a case on the complaint of ASI Ali Akbar.