Supreme Court allows bail in alleged blasphemy case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to a man accused of posting blasphemous content on a WhatsApp group, holding that further investigation is required in the instant matter.

A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprised of Justices Qazi Faez Isa and Yahya Afridi, granted bail to accused Zahid Mahmood on a surety bond of Rs 100,000.

On June 6, 2022, the Cyber Crime Cell of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in Multan complained against the accused.

After hearing the matter, the trial court and the high court rejected the bail application of the accused, who later moved to the apex court for relief.

On Friday, during the hearing, Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that the trial court had not inserted any clause while indicting the accused.

“How will the accused fight his case when he is unaware of what crime he has committed?” Justice Isa asked the deputy attorney-general.

The judge inquired whether the instant case falls under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code. The deputy attorney-general, however, submitted that the Federal Investigation Agency had investigated the matter in the complaint filed against the accused.

“But at least you should know about the clause, which applies at the time of indictment of the accused,” Justice Qazi Faez Isa told the law officer.

The judge said that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) had also sought the opinion of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CCI) in the instant case, and the council while giving its opinion, held that Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) could not be applied to the accused.

“If the opinion of the council, which is a constitutional body, is not being followed, then it is better to close it,” Justice Isa remarked.

Justice Yahya Afridi said that the apex court had recently given a verdict in a blasphemy matter. The judge asked the counsel for the accused about the date on which the Council of Islamic Ideology gave its opinion.

The counsel replied that the opinion would come on June 8, 2022. At this point, Justice Yahya Afridi asked the counsel if the trial court had rejected the accused’s bail application despite the council’s recommendation.

“At this stage, we cannot give our opinion,” Justice Afridi remarked, adding that if the court gives its opinion, the instant matter pending before the learned high court will be affected.

While Justice Qazi Faez Isa said that every case about religion is related to the state and added that matters about religion cannot be left in the hands of individuals but that the state machinery should handle them with ability and caution.

“The state machinery should not surrender to individuals in dealing with such matters,” the judge said.

Meanwhile, the court expressed dissatisfaction over the investigation conducted by the Federal Investigation Agency and held that the trial court had framed the charge against the accused without inserting the relevant section.

The court further held that more investigation is required in this matter as the alleged content posted on WhatsApp was in Arabic. In contrast, the investigation failed to establish whether the complainant knows Arabic or not. Similarly, the court held that the investigation also failed to establish how the complainant came to know about the alleged content posted on Whatsapp.

Meanwhile, the court granted the accused’s bail application on a Rs100,000 surety bond.