Crime and punishment: No headway on Kot Radha Kishan killings

Chief minister visits family of the deceased; announces Rs5m grant.

LAHORE:

The village where a Christian couple was lynched after being accused of blasphemy on Tuesday wore a deserted look on Thursday.

Smell of charred food greeted the visitors as most of the residents of Chak 59 had fled the village leaving the food on burning stoves to escape arrest after police launched a crackdown late on Wednesday.

Workers at the kiln where Sajjad Masih and his wife Saima alias Shama were killed had abandoned their quarters too.

Police arrested nearly 300 men from Chak 59 and Chak 60 during the raids on Wednesday night.

The roofs of two office rooms at the kiln where the couple had been locked had holes blamed on an angry mob.

One of the rooms contained broken furniture and stones believed to have been thrown by the mob.

Police failed to make any headway in the investigation. Police said they had collected some bones from the site and sent them to the Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PSFA).

They said they had also found a shoe from the room which they believed had belonged to Saima. No other evidence was collected from the scene.

A senior police officer said an FIR registered against 500-600 unnamed and 53 nominated suspects was itself a set back for investigation.

“It will be very difficult for police and the prosecution to fix blame on anyone,” the officer told The Express Tribune requesting anonymity.

Police had arrested nearly 50 people during the raids. Most of them were sent on judicial remand by a court as police did not ask for their custody.

Only three people, including kiln owner Yousuf Gujjar, his employee Afzal Sameer and another person, were handed over to police.

During the interrogation, all three accused denied any role in the brutal murder.

Kasur DPO Jawad Qamar and Provincial Minister Tahir Khaleel Sindhu submitted a preliminary report to Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

Heavy police contingents have been deployed at the Clerkabad, another village in the area with a large Christian community.

Shehzad Munshi, an MPA representing minorities, said, “The Christian community has been persecuted on false accusations of blasphemy many a times. The situation might get out of control if we do not get justice this time.”

Watch the video of Shahbaz's visit below:



The chief minister too visited the family of the deceased to offer condolence. He also announced a Rs5 million grant for the three bereaved children of the deceased and 10 acres agricultural land for them. He assured the family that justice would be done..

Published in The Express Tribune, November 7^th, 2014.