LAHORE: The Lahore High Court has granted post-arrest bail to a Christian who was a juvenile at the time of his arrest in a second FIR of blasphemy out of three registered against him at different police stations of Sargodha.

The suspect was initially arrested in an FIR of Satellite Town police lodged on July 16, 2023 and later implicated in two more cases of different police stations on the basis of mere suspicion.

A trial court had on July 20, 2024 declared him a juvenile.

Karana police of Sargodha registered the second FIR No. 454 on Aug 20, 2023 under section 295 A & B of PPC against the suspect already detained by Satellite Town police in a case of similar charges.

In his bail granting order, Justice Asjad Javed Ghural noted that the petitioner was not nominated in the crime report rather booked through a supplementary statement of the complainant.

The judge observed that the petitioner was admittedly juvenile at the time of the alleged occurrence, but amazingly despite the elapse of more than one-and-a-half-year of his incarceration, the challan (charge sheet) had not been submitted by the police.

He further observed that the petitioner cannot be kept behind bars for an indefinite period as a measure of advance punishment, when an early conclusion of the trial is not in sight.

Justice Ghural ruled that the petitioner has never been proved to be a desperate or hardened criminal.

The judge allowed the bail to the petitioner subject to furnishing of surety bonds of Rs100,000.

However, he would remain behind bars since his bail petition in the third case is still pending before the LHC.

In December last, Justice Muhammad Waheed Khan had granted bail to the Christian man in first FIR No. 856 of Satellite Town police station.

Published in Dawn, February 20th, 2025