Mardan lynching case: Prime accused moves SC against PHC verdict

ISLAMABAD: Imran Ali, the prime accused of lynching Mashal Khan, a student of Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan (AWKUM) over the allegation of blasphemy in 2017, has moved Supreme Court seeking his acquittal from charges in the case.

He has filed an appeal in the apex court through his counsel Syed Abdul Fayyaz, praying to grant leave to appeal against the impugned judgment passed by the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on November 19, 2020 and prayed that he may be acquitted from charge in the interest of justice. The PHC had upheld the conviction by an anti-terrorism court of 33 people accused of lynching Mashal Khan. It, however, converted the death penalty awarded to a prime accused into life imprisonment.

Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student of the Department of Mass Communication at AWKUM, was lynched by a mob over the allegation of blasphemy on April 13, 2017. A bench consisting of Justice Lal Jan Khattak and Justice Syed Mohammad Attique Shah had also upheld the acquittal of 28 accused in the case by trial courts by rejecting appeals of the provincial government and Mashal Khan’s father Mohammad Iqbal.

Sixty-one accused were tried but the anti-terrorism court had handed down death sentence only to the prime accused, Imran Ali, who was charged with firing at the student. Seven of the accused were awarded life imprisonment and 25 were awarded three years imprisonment on account of lynching, while the remaining 28 were acquitted. As per the appeal filed in the apex court, the petitioner had filed an appeal in the PHC which was dismissed vide judgment on November 19, 2020 and his conviction was maintained however, the sentence of death awarded to him was altered into imprisonment for life on two counts with direction to him to pay compensation of Rs 100,000 to legal heirs of the deceased and in default whereof to undergo six months SI with benefit under Section 382-B CrPC. The High Court had held that his sentence shall run concurrently.