Aasia Bibi verdict: Complainant files review petition

LAHORE: The complainant in the Aasia Bibi case has filed a review petition in the Supreme Court with the request to reverse its decision regarding acquittal of the Christian woman of the blasphemy charge and restore her death penalty.

The petition, filed through three lawyers including Azhar Siddique, Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry and Muhammad Ozair Chughtai, also asks the court to place the name of Aasia Bibi on the Exit Control List (ECL) till the decision of the review. Qari Muhammad Salam is the petitioner. The petition raises eight questions of law to be decided in the review.

It questions whether the apex court was bound to take into consideration the nature of the case and all the tests which were especially applicable to a normal case where the principles of inordinate delay, defective investigation and other technicalities should not be a hurdle in dispensation of justice in view of the blasphemy laws read with judgments of the superior courts.

“Whether the Supreme Court for this purpose has to take into consideration that the member(s) of Shariat Court be included in this Bench, because this matter needs in-depth consideration and due to the peculiar circumstances of the case as well as application of Section 295-C in its time letter and spirit,” the petition questions.

It further asks whether the SC has the jurisdiction to overrule facts like confession of the offence by the Christian woman, which at the time of investigation and after registration of the case has to give entirely different principles of “Qanoon-i-Shahadat Order.”

The petition objects that the apex court did not interpret at all the provisions of Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, read with Section 295-C of Pakistan Penal Code as well as Article 25 of the Constitution while passing the impugned judgement.

It pleads that there is an apprehension that Aasia Bibi may leave the country before decision of the review petition. Therefore, it asks the court to immediately suspend the operation of the acquittal verdict and put the name of the acquitted woman on the ECL till the final decision.