LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday acquitted a Christian couple implicated in a blasphemy case, setting aside an order of a trial court of Kasur, where they had been sentenced to life imprisonment.
Justice Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi, issuing a verbal order, accepted the couple’s appeal against conviction, as the prosecution could not prove allegations against the accused couple.
Mustafabad police of district Kasur had registered a case against Munir Masih (32) and his wife Ruqqaya Bibi under sections 295-B and 295-C of PPC on December 8, 2008.
A trial court had exonerated them from charges in 2010 under section 295-C (use of derogatory remarks, etc; against the Holy Prophet (PBUH)). The Court ruled that allegations against them under 295-C could not be proved during their trial. However, they were awarded life imprisonment on charges filed under section 295-B (defiling of the Holy Quran).
The convicts had filed an appeal in the LHC through their counsel Chaudhry Naeem Shakir and pleaded not guilty.
In the FIR, complainant Mohammad Nawaz had accused Ruqayya of performing exorcisms and using the Holy Quran for the purpose, adding that she touched the holy book without performing ablution which was akin to insulting the Quran.
He said her husband Munir Masih sat outside the room where she defiled the Quran, therefore is equally responsible for defiling the holy book, he alleged. He also raised allegations of blasphemy of the holy prophet (PBUH) by saying in one sentence that they “also insult the Holy Prophet (PBUH)”.
He said that the husband is also an blasphemer, since he used to guard the room where his wife committed the alleged crime.
However during the trial, not a single witness mentioned anything regarding the couple making blasphemous statements against the Holy Prophet (PBUH), therefore the court acquitted them of 295-C, and awarded them life imprisonment under 295-B.
During the course of the hearing, Advocate Shakir, counsel for the defendants, submitted that Mohammad Yousaf and his brother Mohammad Ilyas implicated the couple through their driver Mohammad Nawaz, who had lodged the FIR against the couple.
Providing background for the case, Shakir said the plausible motive for filing the case was a fight between the children of the Christian couple and Yousaf’s family, adding that Yousaf’s family had also thrashed Ruqqaya. A few days after the incident, they lodged an FIR against the couple.
Shakir pointed towards discrepancies in the FIR and statements of the witnesses, that while the FIR claimed Ruqqaya used to touch the Holy Quran without ablution, the witnesses said she used to spread her hair over an open copy of the Holy Quran.
He said that such discrepancies raised the possibility that Nawaz’s claims were just baseless allegations.
During the hearing, when the prosecutor tried to prove allegations against the couple, he argued that no one can touch the Holy Quran without ablution. However, Justice Naqvi noted that since no one bothered performing ablutions before reading the Holy Quran or Bible in libraries all over the world, and the fact that some non-Muslims had even embraced Islam after reading the Holy Quran.
Munir is currently out on bail, while Ruqayya is imprisoned at Sahiwal Jail. Shakir said that on Saturday they would be able to get a certified copy of the court order and hopefully by Monday Ruqayya would be released from jail.
The couple have four daughters and two sons.
COMMENTS (16)
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Now the mullahs and the people who filed the case will take the law into their hands and will be garlanded on being successful.
Who will compensate for the lost time in Jail and for sufferings of the family.Half educated Mullas are giving bad name to the religion.
@ashar: "then why dont you advise the minority MP to take initiative and file a case against those who falsely convicted the innocent Christian family. I think this is the service for which they are elected as thier representatives"
is it also not our responsibility to protect our Pakistani (non-Muslim) brothers and sisters if someone is trying to misuse the law?? They are as Pakistani as you and me and they are humans too. Exactly my point, no need to say anything more about the intolerance people like you show.
@ashar: This is a man-made law. Please don't malign Islam by trying to relate this brutal law with Islam, know more about your religion! Islam teaches tolerance but most unfortunately has been given a very bad name by the extremists and laws like this alike. Nobody is expressing hatred towards Islam here, just stop burning on anything linked with Islam, cool down and think rationally, that's what we need as a country which is otherwise a (religious) mess and this reflects in comments like yours.
I hope this couple lives in peace but what action has been taken against complainant. All Urdu language news papers, Muslim wedding cards etc etc etc are seen with verses from Holy Quran but later most of them are seen thrown at places where we see thrash. I think people should be punished under the same law if it proves fake.This law 295 B & C needs amendments so that it is not used as a Hanging Swords on the heads of Non-Muslims.
No comments. I am just embarrassed of being called and known as Pakistani
@Concerned: Your parameters for comparison seem to be very flexible: In school, I was never taught about religions other than Islam and am still generally ignorant about the intricacies of other religions. That is not how it happens in the West, where your exposure to religion comes only from home or from your own personal reading. The blasphemy law is just a legal tool for people to settle personal scores or to give them an opportunity to arouse and give vent to their atavistic emotions. It has no place in the civilized world.
" he ( prosecution) argued that no one can touch the Holy Quran without ablution. However, Justice Naqvi noted that since no one bothered performing ablutions before reading the Holy Quran or Bible in libraries all over the world... "
I have read Quran along with Hadith many times over in bed. Did I commit blasphemy? No librarian stacks up the Quran in the shelf after performing ablution, even in PAK, and No school children who stuff the book in their back packs perform ablution each time they put the Quran back in their book bag.
I like the comment of Fus. People who bring false charge should be prosecuted and I am sure there are laws in PAK books for that purpose.
@Concerned: Its amazing how everything you said was completely thrown out of the window with your last sentence. Maybe in your education, you should have learned logic. Then you would reverse either your last statement or the rest of the paragraph...
It seems some people are in search of an opportunity to express thier hatred to Islam and Islamic Laws. If somebody is Pakistani no matter a hindu is bound to obey and respect the law of the land. Otherwise India is not far from him he can find he eternal abode there to whom he consider his real country.
as for the first comment above, then why dont you advise the minority MP to take initiative and file a case against those who falsely convicted the innocent Christian family. I think this is the service for which they are elected as thier representatives.
Repealing this law will not resolve this festering problem. In school, I was never taught about religions other than Islam and am still generally ignorant about the intricacies of other religions. This is also a problem in the West. I remember having a conversation with an English friend of mine, and he was shocked when I informed him that Islam has roots in Judaism and is an Abrahamic religion! Ignorance stems from being uneducated and uninformed, as is the case in Pakistan. This law should be strengthened for now, but education is the key!
You guys should appreciate this and not keep on blasting everything !!
Repeal this evil law before it's too late.!!
Modern day witch hunts. Mentality of the dark ages is, unfortunately, thriving in Pakistan.
What about the people who filed fake case against the christian couple? They should be charged and sent to jail. If the illliterate mullahs want to keep Blasphemy law, then fine keep it, but it should be added to the law that any one who files a fake case should be tried as "attempt to kill" since anyone convicted under Blashpehmy law can get death sentence.