Mashal Khan lynching case trial: PHC orders judge to visit Mardan Central Jail to assess feasibility

PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday directed Mardan district and sessions judge to visit Mardan Central Jail and submit a report whether it had the capacity to conduct trial of Mashal Khan lynching case by the anti-terrorism court.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Yahya Afridi and Justice Abdul Shakoor issued the directives to the District and Sessions Judge, Subhan Sher Khan, after the request by lawyers representing parents of the accused persons arrested in the Mashal Khan lynching case that the newly constructed central jail had the capacity to conduct the trial.

The court directed the judge to submit his report before July 20, the next date of hearing into the case. The provincial government through secretary Home and Tribal Affairs termed the Mardan Central Jail inappropriate for conducting the proceedings of Mashal lynching case. It had suggested that the Haripur Central Prison had the capacity for arranging trial of such a sensitive case.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Advocate General Abdul Latif Yousafzai representing the provincial government, also appeared in the court. He submitted that the government had no objection to the request of the father of Mashal to transfer the Mashal Khan lynching case from Mardan’s anti-terrorism court to some other district in the province and holding the trial inside prison.

However, lawyers, including Syed Yousaf Shah, Inayat Bacha and Akbar Ali Shah, representing parents of the accused persons, submitted that the newly constructed Mardan Central Jail had the capacity for holding such a trial and the anti-terrorism court also hears the cases on the premises of the jail.

They submitted that under the law the parties should be provided the nearest court for trial for their convenience. They requested the court to dismiss the application filed for transfer of the case.

Iqbal Khan, father of Mashal Khan had filed the petition under Section 28 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, which empowers the court to transfer a case from one ATC to another if it is in the interest of justice.

His lawyer, Abdul Latif Afridi, requested the bench to ask the prosecution not to submit challan (charge sheet) of the case to the ATC in Mardan until the disposal of his petition.

The bench observed that it had already ordered the production of the records.

Mashal, a 23-year-old student of the Abdul Wali Khan University Mardan, was lynched by a mob, including students, staff members and outsiders on campus, on April 13 this year after accusing him of committing blasphemy.

His father said in the petition that the open trial in such a sensitive matter was not possible and therefore, it should be conducted inside the jail to protect witnesses, lawyers and judges from any harm.

The petitioner feared that the trial in Mardan would create a ‘serious situation’ pressuring both witnesses and the petitioner into making a compromise and forcing the prosecution witnesses into changing their statements.

In the petition, it was stated that the blasphemy charge proved fabricated when probed by the joint investigation team. He submitted that in a bid to cover up the real motive behind Mashal’s killing, the deceased was accused of having committed blasphemy.