KARACHI: A sessions court on Thursday sentenced a man to life imprisonment after convicting him of desecrating the Holy Quran in 2021 within the remits of the Korangi police station.

Additional District and Sessions Judge (East) Shahid Ali Memon found the accused guilty and ruled that the prosecution had proven the charge of defiling copies of the Quran under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) beyond a shadow of a doubt.

“All the prime witnesses had fully supported the case in respect of the date of offence, time of offence, arrest of accused, seizure of property etc. In other words, it can safely be said that all the witnesses, including the complainant, had corroborated each other and the learned defence counsel made cross-examination upon them but he has not been able to cause any dent to their evidence,” the judge observed.

According to state prosecutor Syed Khursheed Abbas Bukhari, the complainant reported to the police in June 2021 that after offering the Fajr prayer, he observed accused Ali Hyder desecrating the pages of the Holy Quran. The complainant then filed a case against the accused, leading to his apprehension.

During the trial, the prosecution produced eight witnesses to support its case. The prosecutor argued that the evidence against the accused was overwhelming and requested for conviction.

On the other hand, the defence contended that the prosecution had fabricated the case against the accused. The defence counsel claimed that the prosecution witnesses, all residents of the same area, had contradicted each other.

The defence also highlighted an unexplained delay in the FIR and noted that no one from the public had contacted the police through Madadgar 15. However, the court observed that the accused initially chose to record his statement on oath and to present his father as a defence witness. However, at a later stage, both, the accused and his father, filed statements stating that they would no longer provide sworn testimony, the court noted.

The case was registered at the Korangi police station under Section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2024