SANGHAR: A suspect in a blasphemy case who was recently released from prison after a medical board declared him ‘mentally challenged’ was gunned down while taking a bath in a watercourse in Kamal Buriro village near Tando Adam town, 56km from here, on Thursday.

Police sources said that Atta Mohammad Buriro, 32, turned up in local court one day and uttered some blasphemous remarks, after which a lawyer, Altaf Junejo, brought him to Tando Adam city police station on Nov 28, 2012, and lodged an FIR against him under Section 295C.

Tando Adam SHO Ghazi Rajar said that Buriro had since been in Hyderabad Central Jail where he underwent trial. Recently, his lawyer requested the court to order formation of a medical board to check mental state of his client.

The board thus formed declared that Buriro was ‘mentally challenged’, which led to his release from prison a few days ago, he said.

The police official said that police arrested the suspects identified as Bilawal Shah and Muneer Brohi, who confessed to having shot Buriro dead over his alleged ‘blasphemy’.

Published in Dawn, August 12th, 2017