Rimsha Masih spent three weeks on remand in an adult jail after she was arrested on August 16 for allegedly burning pages from the Holy Quran, in a case that prompted worldwide condemnation.
Police on Saturday had told the court the girl was not guilty and the cleric, Khalid Jadoon, who allegedly framed her should face trial instead.
“We have received the medical report which says she is aged 14. The investigation report of her case must be submitted in a juvenile court,” District and Sessions Court of Judge Raja Jawad Abbas said.
Rao Abdur Rahim, the lawyer for Rimsha’s neighbour Hammad Malik, who originally accused her, objected to the medical report, but Abbas told him he should apply to the juvenile court when it takes up the case.
Rahim told the court that Rimsha girl is 21 years old and that the medical report that termed her as a minor was wrong.
The prosecution lawyer had earlier challenged the medical report, arguing that the medical board was not set up on court orders.
The prosecution lawyer also said that Rimsha had been sent off to Norway, however, the Christian girl’s lawyer, Advocate Tahir Naveed Chaudhry said that Rimsha was still in Pakistan, but her location could not be disclosed due to security hazards.
An official medical report has classified her as “uneducated” and aged 14, but with a mental age younger than her years. Others have said she is as young as 11 and suffers from Down’s Syndrome.
Rimsha and her family, who have been in fear for their lives since the blasphemy allegations, were moved to an undisclosed location after her release on bail on September 8.
COMMENTS (22)
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I told you ET that you will not publish my comments and you did not.
SET RIMSHA FREE, FREE, FREE. Stop this facade and do not traumatize her. This will torment her for the rest of her life. Show some human compassion, please.
She is innocent and masoom. Catch the one-eyed molvi, hang him upside down by the toes, and raise him high off the ground. Then whack him until he admits he is a horse that can swim all the way to the South Pole. We do not want his kind in Pakistan. Enough is enough.
Salams
The seminal question: If a 14 or 21 year old or nay human can put a dent in our faith, then;
Is it not time not to question the person but our faith? Sincerely// ..Peace
Rimsha is not a Juvenile. Pakistan seems to be a juvenile nation.
hahahaha lucky Pakistanis, we don't have anything else to think about. Even after next hundred years when even Bangladesh will be sending a mission to space we will be thinking what was the age of Rimsha Masih. I really enjoy being a Pakistani.
Whether she is 14 or 21 it does not matter because it has been proved the evidence was planted by a mullah. When will Pakistan come out of stone age and accept the real world.
Now that there are three witnesses to the fact that Rimsha was falsely accused by the maulvi and he stands to be punished, his lawyer is just muddying the waters.
Plz leave the poor girl and focus on REAL CULPRIT. This false case took the peace of Rimsha family, their house and identity what more people need from them?????? they can't return back to their house they can't move freely still people discussing abt Rimsha's age i think its better if we discuss what Punishment is good for Imam who fabricated this case and who ORIGINALLY did the Blasphemy.
We Pakistanis love to discuss stupid things and leave the REAL CULPRIT free, i think after few days the Imama sahib will be free and still stupid people discuss whether Rimsha was 12, 14 or 21.
Long live humanity
What the lawyer is trying to say that if she is 21 then its ok to falsely implicate her in a blasphemy case and burn her alive... and that the Molvi who framed her should be made Ameer-ul-momineen cause he represents everything that the current members of the Lahore Bar Association and the Religious Parties in Pakistan stand for....
The lawyer needs to be removed as he seems to be mentally ill and is letting his personal emotions dictate his actions. The judges should get rid of him.
Never beleive anything coming out of Pakistan these days
When it has been proved by witness that the real culprit is an imam and not this little girl, why should anybody bother about her age? It is none of this lawyer's business to argue the case any more - because there is no case in the first place!
The reality is a bit more complicated. I have seen cases where blasphemy law has been used to evict people from the homes/land. I have also seen cases where the purported victims have used it to obtain visas for a new life abroad.
Without going into any intricacies of the case, the age of 12 as claimed by her lawyer doesn’t sound valid. By the very images we’ve seen on the media, she can’t be 12 or 14, 21 seems more valid.
Who can trust media?? Investigation needed.
No matter what her age is , she is an innocent in the light of Islamic teachings and Quran. Lawyer seems to be mentally sick first he should present his own fitness certificate.
So what if she is 21 , the Maulana is still to blame why did he do this to Blame her he is taking full advantage of this Stupid Man made LAW
Without going into any intricacies of the case, the age of 12 as claimed by her lawyer doesn't sound valid. By the very images we've seen on the media, she can't be 12 or 14, 21 seems more valid.
Isn't she proved innocent already?
More madness on its way.