Controversial publications: Bail petition of blasphemy accused referred to duty magistrate

LAHORE:

A judicial magistrate on Monday referred to another magistrate a bail petition filed by a man accused of printing blasphemous literature related to the Ahmadia community.

Tahir Mehdi’s post-arrest bail application was referred to Adnan Anjum Gondal, duty magistrate, because Magistrate Naeem Shaukat was on leave.

Earlier, Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry, counsel for the complainant, had told the court the accused had published blasphemous literature at his printing press, namely Ziaul Islam Printing Press. He said the publications, namely Alfazl, Ansarullah and Tehreek-e-Jadeed had been seized from Mehdi. He also accused him of publishing material for some banned organisations.

Counsel for the accused had said Mehdi had not published any offensive material. He said the complainant had implicated him in the case only to humiliate and blackmailed him.

The judge had reserved for Monday the verdict on the bail plea.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2015.