After spending more than three weeks in jail on blasphemy allegations, 14-year-old Christian girl Rimsha Masih was released from Adiala Jail on Saturday.
After getting released from the jail, Rimsha was flown to Islamabad in a government helicopter. Her release comes a day after her bail was approved against two surety bonds worth Rs 0.5 million each.
While the juvenile girl was being brought to the helicopter, her face was covered with a sheet of cloth to protect her identity. “We have shifted her to a safe place where she was reunited with her family,” Rimsha’s counsel Tahir Naveed Chaudhry told Pakistan Today.
Rimsha was arrested on August 16 from the Mahra Jafar area in Islamabad after her neighbor accused her of burning pages of a Noorani Qaeda.
Amid tight security, she was brought from jail in an armored vehicle to the nearest helipad, before flying to the Shakarparian Helipad in Islamabad. From Shakarparian, she was shifted to an armored van and driven to an undisclosed location due to security reasons.
Police sources told Pakistan Today that before shifting Rimsha to a safe place, she was allowed a brief meeting with her relatives residing in Mehra Jafar. Sources further said that Rimsha’s father Misrak Masih met her after her release, and went to their house in Mehra Jafar and picked their necessary belongings before leaving for the undisclosed location in police custody.
At the time of her release from jail, a large number of security personnel, members of Christian community and representatives of media were present. While rumors are circulating that Rimsha might be shifted to some other country, her lawyer Tahir Naveed categorically opposed the idea.
“Let me make it clear, Rimsha will not be shifted to any other country. She will live in Pakistan. Although some NGOs are working on these lines, but we will not allow them to do this,” the lawyer said. The All Pakistan Minorities’ Alliance (APMA) paid the sureties bond worth Rs 1 million for Rimsha’s release.
On Friday, Sessions Judge Mohammad Azam Khan granted bail to Rimsha after conducting lengthy proceedings that saw heated arguments over the girl’s release. Declaring Rimsha a “juvenile”, the court referred to a medical report, pointing out that her mental age appears to be less than her physical age.
The panel of Rimsha’s lawyers had pleaded before the court that their client was a minor girl, and according to Pakistani laws, minors were entitled to bails in all cases except terrorism, killing and kidnapping. Upon this, the court gave decision in Rimsha’s favor.
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