Pakistan's Blasphemy case: ‘Mentally-ill’ accused may face attempted suicide charge

Additional District and Sessions Judge Safdar Ali Bhatti has sought comments from the Kot Lakhpat SHO for December 3 on a petition seeking an attempted suicide case against a woman already being tried for blasphemy. The petitioner, Advocate Tahira Shaheen Mughal, submitted that at the last hearing of the blasphemy case against Waleeha Irfat in Central Jail, warders had told the court that they had foiled a suicide attempt by the accused. She asked the court to direct the SHO concerned to register a case against Irfat for attempted suicide under Section 325 of the Pakistan Penal Code, which carries a term of up to a year in prison. A witness told The Express Tribune that when the judge directed jail officials to produce the accused before the court, the warders responded that she did not wish to come out as she was not appropriately dressed. She was eventually brought to court covered in a long shawl.

Blasphemy trial

Meanwhile, M Amanullah, who claims to be Irfat’s fiancé, has filed a petition asking that she be sent to a private hospital for treatment and for him to be allowed to stay with her as an attendant. He said that Irfat had been behind bars for a year and a half and her confinement had caused psychological issues. The Punjab Institute of Mental Health, in a report dated August 29, 2013, declared that Irfat was suffering from a mood disorder which caused impulsivity issues and she required pharmacological treatment as well as counselling. Advocate Ghulam Mustafa Chaudhry filed an objection petition in response, alleging that the medical report issued by the Mental Health Institute was invalid and an attempt to evade criminal prosecution. He said that no notice had been issued to the complainant when the constitution of a medical board to examine the accused was ordered, which was illegal. A board of certification had not been assembled to examine the accused, he said. The judge directed the jail superintendent to get the accused medically examined by a medical officer. If this facility was not available in the jail, the judge said, the accused should be examined elsewhere. The judge fixed December 3 for recording the statements of prosecution witnesses.

At the last hearing, Irfat had complained to the judge that women prisoners in the judicial lock-up had told her she deserved to be killed as a blasphemer. Irfat’s request for post-arrest bail was dismissed in July 2012 and an acquittal application was dismissed on April 8, 2013.

An FIR was registered against Irfat at the Factory Area police station under Section 295-B (defiling the Holy Quran) of the Pakistan Penal Code on the complaint of Abdul Monam Shah, a security guard at Punjab Society near DHA. He said that at 5a on March 3, 2012, while he had been on patrol, a woman named Saima Bibi had made a hue and cry stating that she had seen Irfat tearing up two copies of the Holy Quran and then sitting and spitting on them. He said that he and a society resident named Boota had entered Irfat’s residence and seen her sitting on pages of the Holy Quran and using derogatory language.