Mashal murder case: ATC sends accused on four-day remand

The Anti-Terrorist Court (ATC) Mardan on Tuesday handed over accused Sabir Mayar to local police on four-day physical remand in the lynching case of Mashal Khan. Police produced Sabir Mayar before the ATC Judge Mohammad Younas Khan, and prayed to the court to give the accused in police remand. On Monday, Sabir Mayar turned himself into the police at the office of the District Police Officer (DPO), Dr Mian Saeed Ahmad.
It may be mentioned that Sabir Mayar had been declared an absconder in the case. It may be noted that on April 13, 2017, a mob of students, employees of Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan and some outsiders lynched Mashal Khan, a student of Journalism and Mass Communication Department, after accusing him of committing blasphemy.
On February 7, the ATC Judge, Abbottabad, Fazal Subhan announced the decision of Mashal lynching case at the camp court at the Central Prison Haripur. The court awarded death sentence to accused Imran, son of Sultan Muhammad, on two counts.
The court announced two times life imprisonment (50 years) to three accused including Fazle Raziq, son of Fazle Khaliq, Mujeebullah son of Said Rehman, and Ashfaq Khan son of Khan Bahadar.
The ATC judge also awarded three times life imprisonment (75 years) to two accused including Mudassir Bashir son of Muhammad Bashir, and Bilal Bakhsh son of Nabi Bakhsh. The court awarded four years sentence to 25 accused including Wajid Malang, Zeeshan, Hanif, Nasrullah alias Nasir Afridi, Imad Ahmad, Khial Said, Hassan Akhtar, Anas, Tauqeer, Aamir, Sudais, Hamza, Arif, Shahab Ali Shah, Ashraf Ali, Imran, Waleed, Ali Khan, Shoaib, Nawab Ali, Syed Abbas, Sahib Zada, Muhammad Sohaib, Farhan Laiq, Riaz Shangla and Wajahatullah.
The court acquitted 26 of the accused in the case with observation that the prosecution has not been able to prove their involvement in any act of violence or aggression on the body of Mashal Khan.
The court declared absconding accused Arif Khan, Asad Khan, Sabir Mayar and Izharullah alias Johny as proclaimed offenders. It ordered that they be brought to trial after their arrest. However later on, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on February 27, suspended the four-year sentence of 25 accused and granted them bail. Local police arrested Arif Khan, Izharullah alias Johny few weeks ago.