PESHAWAR: A single-member Peshawar High Court bench on Friday directed the provincial government to respond to a petition seeking the transfer of the trial of the remaining accused in the Mashal Khan lynching case from Mardan to Peshawar.

Chief Justice Yahya Afridi also issued notices to the three accused, including Arif Khan, Sabir Mayar and Izharullah alias Johny, asking them to file separate replies about the petition of Mashal Khan’s father by May 25 and adjourned the hearing until then.

The petitioner, Mohammad Iqbal Khan, said the main trial of the lynching case was conducted inside the Haripur Central Prison by the Abbottabad anti-terrorism court on the high court’s orders and therefore, the trial of the three absconding accused, who had been arrested, should be shifted to Peshawar from Mardan for security reasons.

Mashal Khan, a 23-year-old student of the Department of Mass Communication at the Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan, was lynched by a mob on Apr 13, 2017, over the allegation of blasphemy.

Amirullah Khan Chamkani, lawyer for the petitioner, said last year, his client had approached the high court for the transfer of the case from Mardan’s anti-terrorism court to Haripur’s as the overall situation in Mardan was hostile to the prosecution and petitioner as certain elements demonstrated for the accused.

He said the main trial was later shifted to the Haripur Central Prison on the high court’s order.

The lawyer said the ATC had convicted 31 of the 57 accused in the lynching case on Feb 7, awarding death sentence to the prime accused, life imprisonment to five and three-year imprisonment to 25 others.

He however that the ATC, which had conducted the trial inside the Haripur Central Prison, acquitted 26 of the accused persons ruling that the prosecution had failed to prove charges against them.

Barrister Amirullah said the trial court, which had ruled that the charge of blasphemy against Mashal Khan were unfounded, had issued the perpetual warrants for the arrest of four absconding accused and declared them proclaimed offenders.

He said three of the absconders, including Arif Khan, who was a tehsil councilor, Sabir Mayar and Izharullah alias Johny, were arrested.

The lawyer said as the high court had not issued any order regarding the trial of the absconding accused, technically the trial had to be conducted in Mardan.

He said certain elements had been openly instigating the people against the petitioner and therefore, it would not be safe for him to pursue the case in Mardan.

Last month, the high court had ordered to club all appeals originated out of the ATC’s judgment and conduct its hearing at the principal seat of the court in Peshawar.

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2018