DERA ISMAIL KHAN: Additional Sessions Judge-II Mohammad Jameel handed death sentence to two seminary students and also awarded life imprisonment to another for slaughtering their young teacher for allegedly committing blasphemy.

Public prosecutors Tanseer Ali and Haji Shakeel Advocate appeared on behalf of the prosecution, while Asad Aziz Advocate represented the accused.

The judge also imposed a fine of Rs2 million each on the convicts. He imposed Rs1 million fine on the girl given life term for being juvenile.

According to a police report, on March 29, 2022, three girl students of Jamia Islamia Falah Al-Banat located in Anjumabad area on the Dera-Multan Road within the limits of the cantonment police station had slaughtered a young female teacher of their madressah for allegedly committing blasphemy.

As per the FIR, Umra Amaan, 24, Razia Hanifia, 21, and Aisha Noman, 17, first injured their teacher, Safoora Bibi, 18, with a stick at the gate of the seminary, and later slit her throat.

In the initial statement given to the police, the arrested students said one of their fellow students had told them about her dream that the teacher had committed blasphemy and that her killer would be given the glad tidings of paradise.

Both the killers and the slain belong to Mehsud tribe of South Waziristan, and are currently residing in Anjumabad area here.

According to the FIR, Zahid, an uncle of the slain, was present at the house when the seminary administration informed him that his niece had been murdered. When he reached the madressah, he found his niece’s tortured and slaughtered body lying in the street.

Later, the police arrested the three students and recovered knives and sticks from them.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2024