Dawn – IHC quashes Rimsha ‘blasphemy’ case: lawyers

Islamabad, 20 November 2012. Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday threw out all charges against a Christian girl accused of blasphemy in a case that drew international condemnation, lawyers said.

During the hearing, IHC Chief Justice, Iqbal hameedur Rehman ordered the police to dismiss the FIR filed against the girl.

The chief justice said that the girl was accused of burning papers from the Quran, however, since there were no witnesses thus the FIR was ordered dismissed.

Rimsha Masih spent three weeks on remand in an adult jail after she was arrested on August 16 for allegedly burning pages from the Quran in a case that prompted worldwide condemnation.

She was arrested after a resident of Mehra Jaffer, the area where the girl also belonged to, Malik Ummad lodged a complaint with the Ramna police against her accusing her of burning the pages of the holy book.

Abdul Hameed Rana, the counsel for the accused, had filed a petition in this regard on September 25. The girl was, however, released on September 7 on Rs1 million surety bonds  and police have since told the courts that she was not guilty and that a cleric who allegedly framed her should face trial instead.

“The court has quashed the case, declaring Rimsha innocent,” her lawyer Akmal Bhatti told AFP.

Cleric Hafiz Mohammed Khalid Chishti, who first gave police the burned papers as evidence against her, was detained on September 1 for desecrating the Quran and tampering with evidence.

An official medical report classified Rimsha 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.

Paul Bhatti, the only Christian member of Pakistan’s federal cabinet, confirmed that the case had been thrown out by the high court in the capital Islamabad.

“I welcome this order. Justice has been done and the law of the land has been upheld by the court,” he told AFP.

“It will send out a positive image of Pakistan in the international community that there is justice for all and that society has risen up for justice and tolerance,” he added.

Rimsha and her family, who have been in fear for their lives since the allegations, were moved to an undisclosed location after her release on bail on September 8.

http://dawn.com/2012/11/20/ihc-orders-removal-of-fir-against-rimsha/

Dawn – Blasphemy case: Complainant’s counsel objects to girl’s absence

Islamabad, 14 September 2012. A court in Islamabad on Friday heard the case pertaining to Rimsha Masih, a girl who had been accused of blasphemy, DawnNews reported.

During the hearing, Rao Abdul Rahim, the counsel for complainant Hammad Malik, said that the girl was on bail and asked why she did not appear for the hearing.

Rahim moreover said that the Station House Office (SHO) should take action over the non-submission of the challan in the case.

He requested the judge to send the SHO and the case’s investigation officer to jail.

Earlier on Sept 7, the additional district and sessions court of Islamabad had granted bail to the girl. Later on September 9, Rimsha was airlifted from Adiyala jail to an unspecified location within Islamabad under the protective custody of police after completion of legal formalities by her lawyers.

The girl belonging to the Christian community is said to be suffering from Down’s Syndrome. She had been arrested on August 16 under the strict blasphemy laws, prompting concern from Western governments, the Vatican and rights groups.

The girl’s arrest had also triggered an exodus of several hundred Christians from her poor neighbourhood on the edge of Islamabad.

Blasphemy is an extremely sensitive subject in Pakistan, where 97 per cent of the 180 million population are Muslims, and allegations of desecrating the holy Quran or insulting Islam often provoke public fury.

In July, a mob of more than 2,000 snatched a mentally unstable man from a police station, beat him to death and torched his body after he was accused of burning pages from a copy of the holy Quran.

http://dawn.com/2012/09/14/blasphemy-case-complainants-counsel-objects-to-girls-absence/

The Hindu – Blasphemy case against Maulvi for ‘planting’ Koran pages

Anita Joshua

Islamabad, 2 September 2012. The blasphemy case involving an 11-year-old girl with Down Syndrome took a curious turn that could end her ordeal when the police on Saturday evening arrested a cleric for allegedly planting pages of the Koran among burnt papers found in her possession.

The cleric, Khalid Judoon Chishti, was produced before a magistrate on Sunday and sent to 14 days judicial remand.

He was arrested after a witness in the case, Hafiz Zubair (a muezzin of the mosque where Maulvi Chishti leads the prayers) told a magistrate that he saw the prayer leader putting pages of the Koran in the polythene bag containing burnt papers that the accused, Rimsha Masih, was carrying.

After Mr. Zubair made the statement before the magistrate, the police obtained a warrant for the Maulvi’s arrest and went to the locality with a huge contingent to deal with any protests that may erupt while imprisoning him. He has now been booked under the blasphemy law, which provides for death sentence as he had desecrated the Koran by putting pages from it in a bag that contained ashes.

To evict Christians

According to Mr. Zubair, the complainant — who had allegedly seen Ms. Masih burning the pages — had brought the packet to the mosque to show it to the Maulvi.

The Maulvi, as per Mr. Zubair’s statement, added some pages of the Koran to the packet to strengthen the case against the girl and facilitate the eviction of Christians from the slum cluster on the outskirts of the federal capital.

Though there had been conflicting reports on the circumstances in which Ms. Masih was found with the burnt pages of the Koran, she was arrested under the blasphemy law over a fortnight ago and sent to the Adiala Jail amid protests from civil society.

In fact, till date, versions differ on the contents of the pages found in her possession with some claiming they were from a primer used to teach children the scriptures.

In view of the latest development in the case, civil society activists have stepped up their demand for the amendment of the blasphemy laws to avoid their misuse as is apparent in this instance. They recalled that this was exactly what assassinated Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer had been demanding.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article3851362.ece