A blasphemy case under Section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) was lodged against two Christian teenage boys on Thursday in Lahore.
The first information report (FIR) was filed by a complainant named Zahid Sohail Khan, who is a police constable by profession. As per the FIR, Khan alleged that he was on his way to the mosque to offer prayer when he saw an 18-year-old Christian boy named Adil Baber calling a puppy with a sacred Islamic name.
Khan alleged that Adil Babar and his 14-year-old neighbor Simon Masih were both making fun and joking about Islam while standing in their street.
According to the FIR, Khan further claimed that Shabir Iqbal was an eyewitness to the act.
The FIR was lodged at the Race Course police station in Lahore.
After lodgement of the case, police raided the locality and took both accused in custody. Currently, Adil and Simon are in prison on judicial remand.
On the condition of anonymity, residents of the locality told The Friday Times that this was a result of personal enmity and has nothing to do with blasphemy.
Expressing concern and grief over the rise in the frequent use of the blasphemy law against religious minorities, minority rights activist Joseph Jansen said that this was the second incident in the last two months in which marginalized segments of society became victims of blasphemy charges.
He voiced fear about the safety of the accused teenager and urged the authorities concerned to ensure his safety in their custody. “There is a dire need to put an end to this sheer injustice,” he added.
He emphasized that this accusation (blasphemy) is so horrible that it swiftly ruins the lives of not only the accused but the entire family.
On April 19, a Christian woman and a Muslim gardener, both illiterate, were arrested in Pakpattan on blasphemy charges after they were accused of ‘intentionally’ burning papers containing verses of the holy Quran.
As per details, on April 15, a 46-year-old Christian widow named Mussarat Bibi and a Muslim gardener named Muhammad Sarmad were assigned the task of cleaning the storeroom of the school, which was filled with paper and other scrapped items. They gathered the report and other scraps in a corner of the school and burned them. Students later found that the burned items also contained holy pages.
Four days later, a local resident named Kashif Nadeem contacted the police and accused the illiterate Christian widow of committing blasphemy by burning pages of the holy Quran at the school.
The complainant also gathered a mob outside the school and started protesting against the incident. However, police arrived on time and took the accused into custody to avert any untoward situation.
The complainant named only the Christian widow, but during the preliminary investigation, police found the gardener was also involved in setting the holy pages on fire; therefore, police nominated both persons in the FIR.
More made up Islamic attacks on Christians. The persecution never ends.