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Blasphemy suspect not safe in police custody
LAHORE: Samuel, a blasphemy suspect, is in critical condition at General Hospital after a police constable hit him on his head with a brick cutter, Daily Times learnt on Tuesday.
| Ouch! Cheeze! Just reading the words give me a headache... |
Constable Faryad, who attacked Samuel in the morning on May 22, was sent to jail after a case was registered against him. âFaryad was roused to attack Samuel at the call of his conscience. He appeared calm after trying to kill Samuel but realized he had done something ugly the next day,â a police officer told a fact-finding team from the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP).
| Oh. Well. In that case just let him go. He won't do it again, right? At least not to the same guy? Until he's healed up? |
Although the case has been brought into the open, the authorities are still trying to keep the whole matter a secret. The Punjab Home Department has banned visitors to the hospitalâs ward No 18, where Samuel is being treated. The HRCP team led by Mahbood Ahmed Khan visited the hospital on Tuesday afternoon. The team described the case as horrific, lacking education, awareness, sensibility and understanding and the result of a clear misuse of the blasphemy law.
| Best to just kill him, though, just to be on the safe side... |
Samuel alias Nadeem, the son of a man named Emanuel from Saidan Shah near Upper Mall Lahore, was charged with blasphemy under Section 295 of the Pakistan Penal Code.
| The names appear to be Christian, don't they? |
Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqoob, librarian of the Darul Islam Lawrence Garden, Lahore, registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Samuel, accusing him of throwing waste by the wall of a mosque of near the library.
| Emptied his chamber pot too close to the mosque did he? |
Although, Civil Lines police told non-government organisations perusing Samuelâs case that he was released, he was sent to Kot Lakhapt Jail for trial. Samuelâs family disowns him. He is a neglected youth because of his addiction, being a tuberculosis patient and having a bad temper, family sources said. Samuelâs family neither pursued the blasphemy case against him, nor did they come to enquire about him after the attempt on his life.
Posted by: Fred 2004-05-26 |
