PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court on Wednesday set aside the life sentence given to a man by a lower court for desecrating the Holy Quran, and ordered his release.

Accepting Mohammad Bilal’s appeal against his conviction, a bench comprising Justice Qaisar Rasheed and Justice Asadullah Chamkani observed that the prosecution didn’t prove the case against the appellant and that there was no evidence on record to connect him with the commission of offence.

Mohammad Bilal was arrested by the officials of Azakhel police station on July 24, 2010, after his relative, Naseem Abbas, complained that he had desecrated the Holy Quran by burning its pages. He was charged under Section 295-B of Pakistan Penal Code dealing with the defiling and desecration of the Holy Quran.

Usman Khan Tarlandi, lawyer for the appellant, said the district and sessions judge in Nowshera had convicted his client and sentenced him to life imprisonment on Nov 30, 2011, ignoring several facts regarding the case.

He said there was no eyewitness to the incident and the police had even not included the inmates of the house, where the appellant lived, as witnesses in the case.

The lawyer said even the complainant had just stated that he had seen some burnt pages of the Holy Quran with the appellant. He said the alleged burnt pages was not produced before the court.

The lawyer insisted the complainant and some close relatives of the appellant wanted to grab his client’s property and had lodged a concocted case against him.

He said an offence under Section 295-B was an offence against the state and not an individual and therefore, under Section 196 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, only the government was empowered to become complainant and file a complaint before a magistrate for the purpose.