LAHORE: A sessions court has awarded life term to a man for committing blasphemy in a trial that remained suspended for about two years owing to his mental illness.

In 2015, Gulshan-i-Iqbal police arrested a man after they claimed to have received information he was burning sacred papers, including pages of the Holy Quran, on the stairs of an overhead bridge.

On the complaint of an ASI, a case was registered under sections 295-B and 295-C of the PPC. The suspect was around 21 years of age at the time of his arrest.

During the trial, the defence counsel while claiming the suspect suffered from a mental illness asked the court to constitute a medical board to examine his client.

However, the trial court dismissed the application and summoned the prosecution evidence since the charge had already been framed.

Later, jail authorities got the man examined as his condition worsened. He was kept under observation and on medication by a seven-member board of psychiatrists at the Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH) in Lahore.

A member of the board told the court the accused was suffering from schizophrenia and not fit to stand trial.

In her cross-examination by the defence counsel, she maintained that symptoms of schizophrenia may appear in early adulthood and later on in the 20s.

The judge declined a request of the defence seeking release of the accused so that he could be better taken care of at home as experts had the same opinion for such patients.

The defence said the decision would be challenged before the high court.

The judge, however, acquitted the accused of the charge under section 295-C.

Published in Dawn, June 29th, 2024