PESHAWAR, Aug 27: The owner of a bookstore was found guilty of desecration of the Holy Quran by a local court on Saturday and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

The court of additional district and sessions judge, Khwaja Wajihuddin, observed that the prosecution had proved its case against the accused, Abdul Wahid Noorani.

The prosecution had charged the accused, who is the owner of Noorani Kutabkhana at Qissa Khwani bazaar, of changing some contents of the Holy Quran.

A complaint was registered on Jan 25, 1999, with the Qabuli police station by a resident of Peshawar, Mir Hassan Khan, that a book printed by the accused carried various changes in some verses of the Quran.

He added that the act was done deliberately by the accused.

Following the registration of the complaint police had raided the bookstore and recovered 70 copies of the book. An inquiry was conducted by police under section 156(3) of the Criminal Procedure Code. The complainant had also sought guidance from Mufti Ghulamur Rehman and Mufti Najmur Rehman, two religious scholars of Jamia Usmani, situated at Nauthia. They observed that changing contents of Quran amounted to desecration of the Quran.

A case was registered against the accused under section 295-B of Pakistan Penal Code, which provides sentence of life imprisonment for the offence of wilfully defiling, damaging or desecrating a copy of the Quran or an extract, or using it in any derogatory manner or for any unlawful purpose.

Public prosecutor, Idrees Khan, appeared for the state and contended that the evidence on record proved that the accused had committed heinous offence.

He added that the act of the accused fell under section 295-B of the PPC.

The defence counsel contended that it could not be proved that the book in question was printed by the accused person.

The accused was arrested after the occurrence. His bail petition was pending before the court, which was also dismissed on Saturday.