Peshawar ATC awards life term to man for killing accused in blasphemy case

PESHAWAR: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) here on Saturday convicted a man for killing an under-trial blasphemy accused inside a courtroom at the Peshawar Judicial Complex over four years ago and sentenced him to life imprisonment with a fine of Rs one million.

Official sources informed that the ATC judge pronounced the order inside the Peshawar Central Prison, where the trial of the case was conducted due to security reasons.

The judge declared that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused Khalid Faisal, who was around 17 years old at the time of occurrence, and the evidence on record connected him with the commission of the offence.

The accused was found guilty of the offence both under section 302 of Pakistan Penal Code and section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act.

Acquits co-accused for lack of evidence

The court, however, acquitted two of the co-accused, a cleric named Wasiullah and a lawyer Tufail Zia, due to lack of evidence.

The trial of the prime accused was conducted by the ATC judge in his capacity as judge of the juvenile court.

The prosecution had claimed that the accused Wasiullah had instigated the prime accused for the commission of the offence, whereas the lawyer Tufail Zia had taken the pistol, used in the offence, from Wasiullah to the court and handed it over to the prime accused.

The deceased, Tahir Ahmad Naseem, a 57-year-old US citizen, had been arrested over two years prior to the occurrence on charges of committing blasphemy.

The deceased was seated in the court of an additional sessions judge after arguments in his case, awaiting to be shifted to prison, when he was shot dead at point-blank range by the convict on Jul 29, 2020. Policemen had apprehended the accused from the courtroom.

The FIR of the occurrence was registered at the East Cantt police station under Section 302 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC), Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act and Section 15 of the Arms Act.

The complainant, a police constable, claimed that he had brought the accused (deceased) handcuffed inside the courtroom whereas another constable was waiting outside.

“All of a sudden a young boy present inside the court started firing at the accused who died on the spot,” he added.

The counsel for the convict argued that no court official had appeared as eye witness during trial to depose against his client and prosecution had abandoned the court staffers as witnesses.

He argued that there was no evidence available that the pistol used in the occurrence was seized from the possession of the accused.

He stated that there was no footage of the CCTV cameras to show the accused firing at the deceased.

Barrister Amirullah Khan Chamkani appeared for the co-accused Tufail Zia, whereas Shabir Hussain Gigyani and Barrister Azam Khan represented the cleric Wasiullah.

They contended that their respective clients had falsely been implicated in the instant case and there was no evidence on record to prove the allegations against them.

Published in Dawn, November 24th, 2024