LAHORE, Aug 6: Mental health of not a single person awarded death sentence for blasphemy since 1992 was determined through a medical examination ordered by the trial court.

The parliament had amended Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, the law providing the punishment for blasphemy, in 1992 to make death the only punishment for the offence. Life imprisonment had earlier been an alternate punishment.

Six people have been awarded the capital punishment so far by sessions courts in Lahore, Gujranwala and Faisalabad.

Section 465 of the Criminal Procedure Code authorizes a sessions court to order examination of a person accused of blasphemy by the district surgeon or the medical officer concerned to determine his mental health should it feels that the accused might be of an unsound mind or not in a position to defend himself.

While convicting the accused, the courts have inferred in all six cases that the judicial or extra-judicial confession, corroborated by the prosecution evidence, established the case beyond doubt.

Of the six convicts, three were charged with claiming prophethood and the remaining with authoring sacrilegious matter.

Jurists say Section 465 does not bind the courts to seek expert advice. The consultation is an option available to the judge to exercise in his discretion.

“Mental examination should be ordered in case of person claiming prophethood even if he appears to be sane,” said Aslam Pervez Chaudhry, who has appeared in three blasphemy cases.

Judge Sadaqatullah Khan of Lahore, who awarded death penalty on July 18 to one Anwar Kenneth, had rejected an application by defence to order a mental examination. In his order the judge observed: “the accused was quite sane in his actions... no question of a medical examination arises...”

Lawyers pleading blasphemy cases feel that religious and social pressure is a factor in the courts’ decision in this regard.

Lahore High Court had set aside the conviction of Salamat Masih with the observation that the trial court had not asked the accused whether he was aware of the consequences and had not properly examined the prosecution evidence.

The appeals of two blasphemy convicts, Muhammad Farooq and Muhammad Aslam, are now pending with the LHC. One, Yousaf Ali, has been shot dead in jail and another, Anwar Kenneth, has refused to file an appeal. Yousaf Ali and Wajihul Hasan were convicted on the basis of extra-judicial confession while the others had made a judicial confession.