Man jailed for life over desecration

Convict pleaded not guilty, but judge found his defence untenable

LAHORE:

The Additional District & Sessions Judge, Khalid Wazir, awarded life-imprisonment to a convict after the prosecution succeeded in establishing the convict’s involvement in desecrating a Surah.

However, the convict in his statement recorded under Section 342 of the CrPC had taken the stance that he had been a Muezzin in a mosque in his area, and he had been implicated in the criminal case at the behest of his enemies.

The judge observed that neither any evidence was presented before the court regarding the convict’s being a Muezzin, nor did he name his enemies so the stance of the accused that he had been implicated in the case was not tenable. The accused had also failed to bring on record any story other than that of the prosecution’s to establish his claim of illegal arrest.

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The complainant’s counsel, Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, told the court that there had been substantial evidence which proved the involvement of the accused.

He had requested the court to award strict punishment to the accused for desecrating a Surah.

The counsel for the accused had argued that testimonies of the eye-witnesses had been contradictory, forensic report was not obtained regarding the alleged desecration of the Surah, and the witnesses had not been truthful, who had had some personal vendetta against the accused.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2023.