News Source: Dawn
Writer: Irfanul Haq
The additional district and sessions court in Rahim Yar Khan sentenced a man to life imprisonment on the charges of committing blasphemy, Dawn reported on Saturday.
The court also ordered the convict to submit Rs100,000 fine.
In his verdict, Additional District and Sessions Judge Khursheed Ahmed Anjum ruled that the convict had committed blasphemy on the social media.
A spokesperson for the District Police Officer (DPO), Umar Saleem, told Dawn that a complaint was registered against Bhait in July last year for reportedly posting blasphemous content on social media.
A first information report based on the complaint was lodged after some time.
According to the DPO spokesperson, the convict was held in district jail for 90 days due to security reasons on the orders of district administration. The initial hearings of the “sensitive” case were also held in jail.
Earlier this month, a district and sessions court sentenced three men to death in Sheikhupura on charges of committing blasphemy.
The court had also fined them Rs200,000 each, but if they are unable to pay the fine, they would have to undergo six months of rigorous punishment.
In his verdict, Additional District and Sessions Judge Mian Javed Akram ruled that the three members of the Ahmadi community of Bhoaywal village had committed blasphemy by displaying a poster and banners at their place of worship in a manner that was offending.
Riaz Hussain, a shopkeeper, had filed a complaint against the three men at the Sharqpur police station.
In June, an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) had sentenced a man to deathfor sharing blasphemous content about Islam on social media, a government prosecutor said.
ATC Judge Shabir Ahmed announced the sentence for the 30-year-old accused in Bahawalpur, according to Shafiq Qureshi.
Correction: An earlier version of this story reflected that the court ordered the convict to submit Rs1 million fine. However, the convict had been ordered to submit Rs100,000 in fine. The earlier version also identified the name of the accused as Bhati. In fact, the name of the accused is Bhait. The errors are regretted.
