Life in danger: Blasphemy case proceedings transferred to Karachi

Four people were accused of distributing books and CDs about their religion.

KARACHI:

The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday transferred proceedings pending under the blasphemy charge before the Mirpurkhas district court to Karachi's district court due to threats to the lives of the four Christian suspects.

Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, who headed the bench, passed the order for trial proceedings to transfer on an application by the suspects who believe their lives were in danger.

The application seeking transfer of trial was jointly filed by the applicants - Javed Younus, Nazia Javed, Elizabeth Caroal David and Rosemary Haider. The applicants claimed that the Mirpurkahs Railway police booked and arrested them in connection with FIR No. 2/2014 lodged under sections dealing with blasphemy and criminal intimidation: 295-A, 298, 506(ii) and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code on May 17.



According to the prosecution, the complainant, Hafiz Shah Fahad, a resident of Pathan Para, had alleged that four Christians were distributing books and CDs about their faith. The complainant said that the suspects were distributing literature based on the teachings of Christianity and had also made inappropriate remarks about Islam and Holy Prophet (pbuh).

The applicants' lawyer informed the court that the police had arrested his clients and the court had later granted them bail. The lawyer added that his clients were constantly receiving death threats in Mirpurkhas.

The lawyer claimed that there were militant groups and others who were conspiring to kill the applicants during the trial.

There is no evidence against the applicants to establish that they had committed the offence alleged by the prosecution, except the religious literature. Their lawyer pleaded to the high court to order the transfer of trial proceedings from the court in Mirpurkhas to any court in Karachi, where the applicants could feel safe and secure during the

trial.



State's consent

The additional prosecutor-general, who appeared for the state, gave his consent to the request for transferring the trial due to threats to the lives of the applicants.

The SHC bench, with the consent of the parties, granted the transfer application.

The court ordered that the case pending before the Judicial Magistrate-III in Mirpurkhas was withdrawn and would be placed before a District and Sessions Judge Karachi-South who could transfer it to a judicial magistrate within his jurisdiction for expeditious disposal.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2014.