MUZAFFARGARH: A blasphemy accused was sentenced to death by the additional district and sessions court here on Tuesday.

Nauman Chandia was convicted in a 2013 case for sending blasphemous messages from the mobile phone number of a security guard at his workplace to his own.

In 2013, Chandia registered a case at City Police Station against guard Mehr Ali. After investigation, police declared Ali innocent and Chandia confessed to his crime.

Talking to Dawn, District Police Officer Awais Ahmad said he had constituted a special team that would probe blasphemy cases on the same lines as homicide cases.

Last week, a blasphemy case had been registered against a government school teacher at Mahmoodkot police station and police were investigating the allegation.

AFP ADDS: The Arabic teacher at Government High School Gurmani was arrested on May 14 after allegedly beating two brothers in Grade VI for not coming to class on time.

Their parents complained to the school whose head told AFP the teacher had been suspended after an inquiry.

Four days later, the parents went to police to accuse the teacher of blasphemy, according to local authorities.

School headmaster Qazi Muhammad Ajmal said the initial complaint from the parents did not mention blasphemy. The teacher did beat the students and was suspended for it. But the blasphemy allegation was “baseless”, he added.

Muhammad Bilal, the father who had lodged the complaint, said the teacher would often beat students.

“My son told me on May 10 the teacher beat them for not carrying out a blasphemous act,” he claimed. “We were angry and we took up the issue.”

Published in Dawn, June 2nd, 2016