LAHORE: An anti-terrorism court indicted on Thurs­day 106 suspects in a case relating to lynching of a Christian couple in Kot Radha Kishan last year after blasphemy allegations had been levelled against them.

Police produced the suspects before the court. A public prosecutor submitted charge-sheets and handed these over to the suspects.

The suspects rejected the charges and opted to contest the case.

The prosecution marked 19 prime suspects, including the brick kiln owner Yousaf Gujjar, Maulvi Mohammad Hussain, Maulvi Arshad Baloch and Maulvi Noorul Hassan, and informed the court that 32 other accused were at large and declared proclaimed offenders.

ATC Judge Haroon Latif framed charges against the suspects and asked the prosecution to present its witnesses on Friday. The prosecutor told Dawn that 40 prosecution witnesses had been lined up for the case.

A mob had burned the couple for allegedly desecrating a copy of the Holy Quran in Kot Radha Kishan in November. They dragged the couple to the kiln, removed a lid from one of the openings of the furnace and threw them into it.

Published in Dawn, May 22nd, 2015

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