Mashal case accused sent on judicial remand

MARDAN: The senior civil judge on Saturday sent Sabir Mayar, the accused in the Mashal lynching case, on judicial remand to Mardan Central Jail after he denied involvement in the crime, police said.

On March 18, Sabir Mayar turned himself in to the police at the office of the District Police Officer (DPO) Mian Saeed Ahmad.

Later, the police produced Sabir Mayar before the anti-terrorist court (ATC).

The ATC judge, Mohammad Younas Khan, handed over the accused to the police on four days remand.

On Saturday, the police produced the accused in the anti-terrorism court (ATC) where the accused denied his involvement in the crime.

Later, the police produced the accused before Senior Civil Judge Asim Riaz, who sent him to the Mardan jail on judicial remand after arguments from the counsels.

With the arrest of Sabir Mayar the number of the accused arrested in the Mashal case has reached 60. However, one accused Asad Katlang is still at large.

On April 13, 2017, a mob of students, employees of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan and outsiders lynched journalism student Mashal Khan after accusing him of blasphemy.

Chief Justice of Pakistan Mian Saqib Nisar took suo moto notice of the incident and on directives of the Supreme Court a 13-member joint investigation team (JIT) was formed to probe the case.

On 3rd June, the JIT completed its report and submitted it in the court. The report exposed alleged incompetence of the university administration, failure of the police and presence of criminal-minded persons in the ranks of Pakhtun Students Federation (PkSF).

According to the JIT report, Mashal Khan, a brilliant student of journalism with deep insight of the student rights and matters pertaining to the university administration, used to speak openly about the administrative problems and other issues in the university.

Days before his brutal murder, he set up a protest camp outside the university to press the government for early resolution of various problems in the university, especially appointment of vice-chancellor.

The JIT in its report clearly mentioned that scores of employees of the university had criminal record in the past.

The anti-terrorism court in Haripur jail announced the verdict in Mashal lynching case on February 7. The court awarded death sentence to one accused identified as Imran, two-time life imprisonment (50 years) to three accused including Fazle Raziq, Mujeebullah and Ashfaq Khan.

The ATC judge also awarded three-time life imprisonment (75 years) to two accused, Mudassir Bashir and Bilal Bakhsh, and four-year sentence to 25 accused.

The court had acquitted 26 of the accused in the case with observation that the prosecution had not been able to prove their involvement in any act of violence or aggression.

However, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on February 27 suspended the four-year sentence of 25 accused and granted bail to them.