ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Monday extended the stay on the blasphemy trial against Rimsha Masih until Oct 17, DawnNews reported.

A single-judge bench of the IHC extended the stay during the hearing of a petition filed by the accused Christian girl for quashing the FIR registered against her which she had pleaded was baseless and had been based on false information.

During today’s hearing, a representative of the prosecution lawyer told the court that the lawyer was not present in Islamabad and subsequently requested the bench for more time.

The court, granting the prosecution's request, extended the stay on the trial to Oct 17.

Earlier on Sept 28, IHC Chief Justice Iqbal Hameedur Rehman had stayed the blasphemy trial of the minor Christian girl in order to first hear on Oct 1 her petition for quashing the FIR registered against her.

Rimsha’s petition

In the petition filed for the FIR’s quashing, Rimsha’s lawyer contended that it was the Imam of Mehra Jaffer mosque, Khalid Jadoon, who had fabricated the charge of blasphemy because he wanted the Christian community to leave the area.

Counsel Abdul Hameed Rana referred to the statement of prosecution witness Hafiz Zubair recorded under section 164 of CrPC on August 31 that the Imam had put pages of the Holy Quran in the shopping bag to make a case against the Christians.

Also, he said, the girl was a juvenile according to her medical report compiled by a board of seven doctors, which had also stated that she appeared to be uneducated and of underdeveloped mind.

Under these circumstances, there was no chance of her conviction and further proceeding with the case would be a futile exercise, the petition had stated.