LAHORE: A sessions court on Tuesday handed down death penalty to a Christian Asif Pervez Masih under section 295-C of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for committing blasphemy. The convict Asif Masih had been behind the bars for the last seven years after Green Town police registered the FIR in 2013 under section 295-B and 295-C of the PPC and 25-D of Telegraph Act.

The complainant, Saeed Ahmad, was a supervisor of the convict in a garment factory. He accused Pervez Masih, a resident of Youhannabad, of sending him blasphemous text messages on his mobile phone.

The defence counsel denied the charges and argued that the complainant used to persuade the convict to embrace Islam. He said the suspect also quit the job due to the endless pressure from his supervisor. He argued that the suspect was falsely implicated in the case with malafide intention.

Additional District & Sessions Judge Mansoor Ahmad Qureshi found the suspect guilty of the offence under section 295-C and awarded him death penalty along with fine of Rs 50,000. The judge also sentenced Masih to three-year imprisonment under section 25-D of the Telegraph Act.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020