Blasphemy is a very sensitive subject in Pakistan, where a mere accusation can get someone killed. Pakistan has strict laws regarding blasphemy. There is death penalty for the crime of insulting the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him), and life imprisonment for insulting the Holy Quran.

Despite this, some people try to take the law into their own hands rather than trusting the police with investigation and prosecution. At times, people who accuse somebody of the crime make their way to the police stations to lodge a first information report (FIR). But the severity of the situation is such that once an accusation is levelled, the accused faces a threat of imminent death at the hands of a mob that is often unwilling to listen to the accused. Some of those accused of blasphemy have even been killed in the courts.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a police officer says that when a blasphemy case is reported at a police station, the station house officer (SHO) informs the concerned district police officer (DPO) or the senior superintendent police (SSP). The matter is investigated by no less than a Grade 17 officer.

At some police stations, the practice is totally different. Police officials say, the decision to register an FIR is often determined by the strength of people making the allegations. It is sometimes influenced by the nature of the accusation and the accusers. “We try to assess the mood of the people. We also try our best to write an FIR in no time. If an SHO delays registering an FIR, the accuser can go around talking about it and a mob can build in no time. It becomes dangerous for us as well,” says an officer.

He says the Ganesh Mandir incident in Bhong is illustrative. According to him, on July 4, an eight-year-old Hindu boy was accused of urinating in a seminary. Maulvi Hafiz Ibrahim asserted that the boy was guilty of blasphemy. Within 24 hours, an FIR had been registered, the age of the accused notwithstanding. When he was presented in a court, he was granted bail because he was a minor. Two days later, a crowd gathered at the Bhong police station and demanded that the boy be arrested. When the boy was not arrested, the crowd set up a barrier on a China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) road. The administration tried negotiations, but the mob attacked the Ganesh Mandir and vandalised it.

Speaking to The News on Sunday (TNS), Hafiz Muhammad Tahir Mehmood Ashrafi, chairman of the Pakistan Ulema Council and Special Aide to the Prime Minister on Religious Harmony and Middle East, says that the police send cases/ issues related to blasphemy to the Muttahida Ulema Board, where the cases are judged on merits. He says that the Muttahida Ulema Board has looked into 113 cases and acquitted the accused. “If blasphemy has not been committed, no one can be punished for it,” says Ashrafi. He says there are designated platforms people can approach with their complaints rather than taking the law into their own hands. He says if blasphemy is committed, the accusers can inform police stations, go to courts or approach the Muttahida Ulema Board and the Pakistan Ulema Council. Pakistan has its law and a constitution, he says.

Ashrafi says people take the law into their hands when they are not sure that justice will be done. This view is also held by some other religious clerics. In Multan, on July 13, a man accused of blasphemy was attending a court hearing when a brother of the complainant shot and injured him. As per police, the man, a resident of Chah Loharanwala in Jhok Lashkarpur, was going to attend the hearing of a blasphemy case lodged against him with the Makhdoom Rasheed police. The first information report (FIR) had been lodged under Section 295-B on October 24, 2019. The complainant said that he had been informed by one Allah Bakhsh that the man had desecrated the Holy Quran. The suspect, who was arrested by the Makhdoom Rasheed police, was later released on bail.

The writer works for The News. He can be reached at sherali9984@gmail.com