ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the superintendent of the Toba Tek Singh district jail to send the personal history of a convict facing the death sentence on a charge of blasphemy.

A two-judge bench of Justice Mushir Alam and Justice Dost Muhammad Khan observed that the court should consider the mental health of an accused before awarding capital punishment.

The court said the convict would be dealt with sternly if he did not have a history of psychiatric problems.

The death-row prisoner faced allegations under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for writing letters claiming that he was an incarnation of Jesus.

He was booked under the blasphemy law by Lahore police in 2001. Later a trial court awarded him the death sentence in July 2002 and a fine of Rs 500,000.

The Lahore High Court upheld the death sentence on June 30, 2014, and rejected his appeal.

During the hearing on Tuesday, the apex court dropped hints that a medical board could be constituted for a medical examination of the convict to ascertain whether he was suffering from mental health issues.

The Deputy Prosecutor General of Punjab, Mohammad Jaffer, however, defended the capital punishment and claimed that there was no evidence in favour of the convict, a former officer of the fisheries department.

He said the convict had not only accepted the charges under Section 295-C of the PPC, but had also admitted to writing letters to the then prime minister, the Punjab chief secretary, the United Nations secretary general as well as the prime minister of Israel, who even sent a reply.

He added that the convict was a highly educated but cunning individual and had authored the jail petition himself as “people like him always indulge in these things for cheap popularity”.

The court, however, observed that the trial court should have ordered prior medical examination to ascertain the mental health of the convict. The bench added that such incidents in society were unfortunate but no one would dare to commit such offences if the law was implemented in true letter and spirit.

Islam, the court observed, was a religion of peace and love, which was also the message at the time of Meesaq-e-Madina (the Madina Pact). That, the court added, was evident from the fact that many non-believers were pardoned when Makkah fell.

The proceedings were adjourned to a date which will be decided later.

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2017