LAHORE: A sessions court on Wednesday granted post-arrest bail to a Christian couple who were arrested on charges of desecrating the Holy Quran.

The couple, Kiran Bibi and her husband Shoukat Masih, were accused of throwing torn pieces of the Quran from the roof of their house in the North Cantonment area.

The complainant, Taimur, claimed that he saw the papers flying towards the ground when he was buying barbecue from a nearby shop near Rangers Headquarters.

He went to the house and confronted Kiran Bibi, who said that her children might have done it. He then searched the house and found a pink school bag behind a water tank on the roof, which contained more torn pages.

North Cantonment police had registered a case against the couple under Section 295-b of the Pakistan Penal Code, which carries a mandatory life sentence for desecrating the Holy Quran.

The couple denied the charges and said that they were innocent. They applied for bail before additional district and sessions judge Mian Shahid Javed, who heard their case.

The judge observed that there was no clear evidence to prove that the couple had committed the alleged act deliberately or wilfully.

He said the case required further inquiry and granted bail to the couple on the condition that they submit surety bonds of Rs100,000 each with one local guarantor each.

Published in Dawn, October 19th, 2023