PESHAWAR: A Peshawar High Court bench on Wednesday directed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa advocate general to assist it during the hearing into a petition seeking the transfer of the case of university student Mashal Khan’s lynching from Mardan’s anti-terrorism court to Haripur or other district’s and holding of the trial inside a prison to ensure the safety of witnesses, lawyers and judges.

After preliminary hearing, Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Abdul Shakoor fixed further proceedings on the petition of Mashal Khan’s father for today (Thursday) asking advocate general Abdul Lateef Yousafzai to provide legal assistance to the court on the points raised by the petitioner.

Mashal, a 23-year-old student of the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, was lynched by a mob, including students, staff members and outsiders on campus, on April 13 over alleged blasphemy.

Petitioner Iqbal Khan filed the petition under Section 28 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, which empowers the court to transfer a case from one ATC to another in the interest of justice.

Abdul Lateef Afridi, lawyer for the petitioner, said open trial in such a sensitive matter was not possible and therefore, trial should be conducted inside the jail to protect witnesses, lawyers and judges from any harm.

He said a number of the accused, witnesses and lawyers were involved in the case and therefore, the trial won’t conclude in many months.

The lawyer feared that the things would create a ‘serious situation’ pressuring both witnesses and the petitioner into making a compromise and forcing the prosecution witnesses into changing their statements.

He said most of the accused belonged to Mardan and the prevailing atmosphere in the district was not congenial to outsiders.

The lawyer requested the court to order the transfer of the case to ATC either in Haripur or other appropriate district in the province, and order the holding of the trial inside the respective central prison.

In petition, Mashal’s father said the case was examined by a joint investigation team and that it was reported in the media that investigation was complete and the case’s challan had been given to the district public prosecutor of Mardan for production in Mardan’s ATC.

He insisted that in a bid to cover up the real motive behind his killing, the deceased was accused of having committed blasphemy.

“The blasphemy charge has been proved wrong and fabricated in the JIT investigation,” he said, adding that the allegation turned the case into one of a sensitive nature.

Mashal’s father said those behind Mashal’s killing had many friends and sympathisers, including the Muttahida Deeni Mahaz, a group of clerics, who declared his son’s killers ‘ghazis’.

“Due to the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case, I as the father of the deceased am in no position to pursue the case in Mardan and therefore, the court may transfer it to ATC in Haripur or some other district, which it deems appropriate for trial,” he said.

Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2017