LAHORE: A district and sessions court awarded the death sentence to a female school principal under blasphemy charges.
Reports in local media cited that the Additional district and sessions Judge Mansoor Ahmad ruled that the convicted was mentally stable following the report of the Punjab Institute of Mental Health which stated that “the suspect was fit to stand trial as she was not mentally deranged”.
The case started in 2013 when the principal of the private school published and distributed a pamphlet in her neighborhood in which she claimed to be the ‘prophet’.
Following the distribution of a contentious pamphlet, a case was lodged against her at Nishtar Colony on the complaint of a local cleric who accused her of denying the finality of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by claiming the Prophethood. The pamphlet also reportedly included derogatory remarks towards Prophet Muhammad (PBUH).
Police during the probe also found her guilty of spreading the information that comes under section 295 C of the Pakistan Penal Code.
Later, the defense legal representative had taken a plea after a one-and-a-half-year period that her client, Salma, was not mentally stable. Reports further stated that the trial want to be started properly for around two years until the jail authorities wrote to the court that the accused was fit to face the trial.
Over the years, the defense counsel prayed repeatedly that she was not sound when she committed the act however, the complainant’s legal representative raised questions at the delay of the trial as he claimed that the woman continued to run her institution and also visited a number of foreign countries several times.
The judge, in his 22-page verdict, ruled “It is proved beyond reasonable doubt that accused wrote and distributed the writings which are derogatory in respect of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and she failed to prove that her case falls in exception provided by section 84 of PPC[it deals with the offenses committed by a person of unsound mind]”.
Besides awarding the death penalty to the accused, the court also imposed a fine of Rs50,000 and added that “she shall be hanged by her neck till her death”.
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