Pakistan: Blasphemy case registered against mentally challenged Muslim

They said that there was a traditional rift between the families of Sajid and Amjad and the complainant used the blasphemy law as a tool to settle his score with his rivals. They also alleged that the authorities picked up both the father and son despite knowing that Amjad was mentally challenged.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | Int'l Desk
Source/Credit: Daily Times | Pakistan
By Afnan Khan | January 8, 2010

LAHORE: The Kot Addu police have registered a case under the blasphemy law against a mentally challenged Muslim at the request of a local mosque’s cleric allegedly in an attempt to settle a rivalry with the family of the accused.

The case has been registered against Muhammad Amjad, son of Muhammad Nazir, by the cleric of their local mosque named Muhammad Sajid in Chak 621 PDA Chowk Sarwar Shaheedwala area of Kot Addu.

The case number 4/11 was registered by the Chowk Sarwar police on Wednesday while the complainant has also accused Amjad’s father Muhammad Nazir and a relative Muhammad Iqbal of conspiring to desecrate the holy Quran with the main accused.


The police raided the house of the accused and rounded up the son and his father on the same day on Sajid’s request, who stated in his registered FIR against Amjad that he set the holy Quran on fire in the courtyard of the mosque, where he (Sajid) is serving as the chief cleric, and then ran away.

Sajid claimed that the incident took place on Wednesday morning, but he did not see Amjad perpetrating the act personally, and only found the desecrated Quran in the mosque premises, while his students told him that the deed was committed by Amjad. Moreover, he has also stated in the FIR that Amjad committed the blasphemy on the orders of his father Nazir and a relative Muhammad Iqbal, and sought action against both of them as well.

However, locals and human rights activists dealing with the case told Daily Times that Amjad had been mentally challenged since his birth and was not aware of the worldly affairs, and it was impossible for him to conspire or understand the meaning of blasphemy at all.

They said that there was a traditional rift between the families of Sajid and Amjad and the complainant used the blasphemy law as a tool to settle his score with his rivals. They also alleged that the authorities picked up both the father and son despite knowing that Amjad was mentally challenged and that the police was favouring the complainant in this case.

However, the third accused of the case, Muhammad Iqbal, managed to escape police arrest and his whereabouts are still unknown to the local police and they were raiding various places to catch him.

One human rights activist, Napolean Qayoom, told Daily Times that the whole area knows that Amjad was mentally challenged and the police’s registration of the case against him under the blasphemy law despite knowing the fact sounded like another example of the misuse of the controversial blasphemy law in the country.

He said he was personally monitoring the case and would try his level best to provide legal aid to the victims while seeking action against the culprits who committed such a mischief during an already fragile situation in the country.

He said the case number 4/11 was registered on the complaint of Muhammad Sajid, who is a local cleric, under Section 295-B of the blasphemy law, while Section 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code had been imposed in the same case against Muhammad Nazir and Muhammad Iqbal for conspiring with the main accused.

He said that most of the cases registered under the blasphemy law were registered by the opponents of the accused, merely to settle scores, adding that most of the victims of these laws were Muslims. Napolean said it was ironic that the accused were mistreated and tortured by the police and other people without any proof of the accusations made against them, adding that some of them were even killed in custody or even before they were presented in any court.

Reader of Chowk Sarwar Police Station, Tanveer, told Daily Times that the police had registered the case against the accused on Wednesday and that they had sent them to a local court on Thursday for remand. However, he abstained from revealing any further details or commenting on the issue while stating that the accused were still in the courts until Thursday night and that he would be able to comment on the issue after they returned. Moreover, the station house officer abstained from commenting on the issue when contacted.




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