LAHORE:
Provincial police is either ignorant or dismissive of Lahore High Court’s instructions regarding the investigation of blasphemy cases, piling misery on those accused of the offence.
A division bench of the Lahore High Court comprising Justice Ali Nawaz Chawhan and Justice Rustam Ali Malik, while deciding a murder reference in offences under section 295-A and 295-C in August 2002, directed the inspector-general of police (IGP) Lahore “to ensure that whenever [a blasphemy] case is registered, it be entrusted for purposes of investigation to a team of at least two gazette investigating officers, preferably those conversant with Islamic jurisprudence.”
In the event that the officers are not conversant with Islamic law, “a scholar of known reputation and integrity may be added to the team … [to] investigate whether a [blasphemy] offence is committed or not,” the ruling added.
Categories: Law and Religion, Pakistan