The district and sessions court on Sunday sent Khalid Jadoon, a local cleric accused of tampering with the evidence against Rimsha Masih, implicated in burning of pages containing Quranic verses on a 14-day judicial remand. Police produced Khalid Jadoon before duty magistrate Nasrum Minallah on Sunday under strict security and the judge granted a 14-day judicial remand of the accused and sent him to Adiala Jail.
The capital police had submitted an application to the court requesting for the remand of Khalid Jadoon. The court ordered to present the accused on September 16 before the court.
The capital police arrested Khalid Jadoon on Saturday night after Hafiz Muhammad Zubair, the eyewitness, disclosed before the court that the local prayers leader Khalid Jadoon included two pages of the Holy Quran into burnt pages when the complainant Mlaik Hammad brought the burnt pages before him for strengthening the case against Rimsha. The local cleric, after getting the case registered against Rimsha Masih had mysteriously disappeared.
Police sources said that the Imam would be charged under Section 196 of the Criminal Procedure Code for the offence of 'deliberate and malicious act of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens by insulting its religious beliefs' as stipulated by Section 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).
Jadoon denied all the allegations and said that he had not fabricated with the evidences. He said that the administration was hatching a conspiracy against him. Similarly, the court will take up the case of the Christian girl Rimsha accused of burning pages containing Quran verses on Monday (today).
The Additional Sessions Judge Muhammad Azam Khan on Saturday adjourned the hearing of the case deferred the bail hearing of Rimsha Masih until Monday after the accuser counsel questioned the authenticity of defence lawyer's papers as well as the parents of the girl requested the court to allow them to change her lawyer.
Rimsha's mother, Irshad Bibi, requested the bench to allow Tahir Naveed to defend her daughter in place of Anjum Riaz, her existing lawyer. She told the court that they had no association with Riaz, who had acted dubiously during the case.
Rao Abdur Rahim, the lawyer representing the complainant, objected to the fact that neither Rimsha nor her mother had signed the bail application submitted to the court or given the power of attorney to their lawyer.
The court directed the special public prosecutor Raja Amir and the police to verify the power of attorney and submit the report in the next hearing. The Islamabad police arrested the Christian girl under blasphemy law on August 16.
Comments
Comments are closed.