Woman arrested for allegedly desecrating Holy Quran in Karachi

Police say young married woman has been taken into custody and investigation is underway

KARACHI:

A young married woman was arrested from the metropolis’ New Karachi area on Wednesday on the charges of ‘blasphemy’ after she allegedly desecrated the Holy Quran.

The area residents staged a protest and blocked the road outside Bilal Colony police station, demanding the security personnel hand over the accused to them.

To control the security situation, the area police closed the doors of the police station, beefed up the security and immediately shifted the suspect to a safer place.

A first information report (FIR), a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, has been registered under Section 295-B on the complaint of the area people.

Speaking to The Express Tribune police inspector Ahmed Nawaz said that the suspect had been taken into custody and the investigation is underway.

“We have also recovered the Holy Quran that was allegedly burnt,” he added.

Also read: Violence over blasphemy allegations against Islam: CII

In the videos available with The Express Tribune, the woman can be seen being beaten up by the crowd while some of the area women who allegedly caught the accused red-handed, tried to hand over the woman to the police.

In a video, when asked why she desecrated the Holy Quran she replied: “I am Yahoodi [Jew] and the Muslims don’t like Jews.”

In another video clip, the woman said that she is from Dadu, a district in Sindh province 340km from Karachi.

Contrary to her statement, the local police claimed that she was from Khamiso Goth, an area in the city.

The mob tried to kill her by setting her on fire in the middle of the road.

Law enforcers said that it is premature to say anything about the mental health of the accused.

“We have to investigate it further,” Nawaz said. But, he added, the mob was outside the police station and it is not the right time to investigate in such situation.”