ATC frames charges against 4 suspects in Mashal lynching case

PESHAWAR: The Anti-Terrorism Court on Wednesday framed charge against four accused arrested in the Mashal Khan lynching case.

The court indicted Sabir Mayar, Izharullah alias Johnny, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) councillor Arif Khan and Asad Katlang. All the accused pleaded not guilty in the murder case of the university student Mashal Khan.

Earlier, the Anti-Terrorism Court and Peshawar High Court had rejected the bail applications of the accused.

However, the Peshawar High Court had directed the Prosecution Department to submit challan of the case against the accused in the Anti-Terrorism Court within 15 days. It had also directed the Anti-Terrorism Court to decide the case within two months.

The trial in the case of the four absconding accused, who were arrested after the announcement of the court verdict, had been transferred by the Peshawar High Court to the Anti-Terrorism Court in Peshawar on the request of the complainant.

Mashal Khan, a 23-year old student of the Department of Mass Communication at the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, was hunted down and lynched by a mob on April 13, 2017 after being accused of blasphemy. Subsequently, the Anti-Terrorism Court had convicted 31 of the 57 accused persons in the lynching case, awarding death sentence to the prime accused, Imran Khan, life imprisonment to five of them, and three-year imprisonment to 25 others.