Christian man acquitted of blasphemy

LAHORE: The Lahore High Court Tuesday acquitted a Christian man who was sentenced to death on blasphemy charges six years ago. Sawan Masih was sentenced to death by a trial court in Lahore.

A division bench headed by Justice Syed Shahbaz Ali Rizvi acquitted Sawan Masih, who was arrested for allegedly committing blasphemy during a conversation with a Muslim friend in Joseph Christian Colony in March 2014.

Sawan Masih had filed an appeal in the Lahore High Court against the death sentence raising objections on police investigation and prosecution. He pleaded that the blasphemy charges were fabricated by the elements who wanted to occupy the property of the Joseph Colony. “The trial court had ignored the basic principles of criminal justice in general and principles of Islamic justice in this case. It committed material irregularity in non-reading and misreading of the evidence on record that has caused serious miscarriage of justice. “The trial court completely ignored a serious lapse in the prosecution case of 33 hours of unexplained delay in recording the FIR over such a sensitive issue by the complainant and also ignored the case law of the superior courts cited at the Bar by the defence counsel,” Masih said in his appeal. He asked the court to set aside his conviction and order his acquittal.

After hearing arguments from both sides, the LHC observed the prosecution has failed to establish involvement of the convict in blasphemy. More than 3,000 persons rampaged through Joseph Colony, torching some 100 Christian homes in Lahore, after the allegations against Masih emerged. The Christian families had to flee the area to save their lives.

Meanwhile, Michelle Chaudhry president of The Cecil & Iris Chaudhry Foundation (CICF) in a statement Tuesday said “There is no doubt that the rule of law has been upheld and justice has prevailed.

However, unfortunately an innocent person has had to lose over seven precious years of his life and no one is held responsible; he and his family have had to endure extremely traumatic circumstances for a crime that had never been committed.”