LAHORE, May 21: The Lahore High Court on Wednesday granted bail to a widow in a blasphemy case and directed her to furnish bail bonds worth Rs50,000 along with a personal surety.

The petitioner, Nasim Bibi, accused of desecrating the Holy Quran under Section 295-B of the PPC, had moved the LHC for bail following rejection of her application by the trial court. As alleged by the complainant in an FIR lodged with Baghbanpura police, she and her two sons, Zahid and Shahid, had defiled the Holy Quran in a street.

Justice Asif Saeed Khan Khosa allowed the petition on grounds that Section 497(1) of the CrPC allowed bail to a woman irrespective of the gravity of the offence alleged to have been committed by her. He further ruled that it was not disputed that the petitioner and her co-accused sons were Muslims and could not have committed such a blasphemous act without any ostensible reason.

“I am conscious of the fact that an allegation of this nature is quite easy to level but extremely difficult to rebut in the backdrop of religious sentiments,” the court observed, adding that physical custody of the accused was no longer required for the purpose of investigation. The accused had already spent almost one year in jail while her trial had not even commenced. As further ruled by the court, it was settled law that bail could not be withheld by the court on presumption that an accused would be convicted later on.

Earlier, counsel for the petitioner, Pervez Aslam Chaudhry, argued that his client had been implicated in a case based on a story blown out of all proportions. He further contended that the complainant had got the case registered only to snatch Nasim Bibi’s house after ensuring her arrest and that of her sons.

The state counsel, Sheikh Maruf Ali, refuted these submissions arguing that the complainant had no enmity with the woman, and the case was based on facts. According to the prosecution, the onus to prove her innocence was on the petitioner, and the grant of bail in a blasphemy case would not be feasible.