ISLAMABAD, Aug 17: Last year’s blasphemy case, in which a minor Christian girl was arrested but later acquitted, formally ended on Saturday after Khalid Jadoon, a local cleric and an accused in the same case, was also acquitted due to lack of evidence.

Jadoon had apparently fabricated the blasphemy case against the Christian girl and had altered evidence by inserting pages of the Holy Quran in a prayer book which had allegedly been burnt by the minor so that the case against her was strengthened.

The girl was arrested in August last year but was released on bail after Hafiz Mohammad Zubair, a prayer caller at the same mosque where Khalid Jadoon was imam, recorded a statement against Jadoon before the magistrate in September 2012.

In his statement, Zubair said he was sitting in Aitekaaf last year in a mosque situated in front of the minor’s house when Malik Hammad, the complainant, brought burnt pages of the Holy Quran before the Imam, Khalid Jadoon.

The cleric then added two more pages of the Quran in the evidence to strengthen the case against the Christian girl, he added.

According to Hafiz Zubair, when the cleric included the pages of the Holy Quran in the evidence present in a polythene bag, he (Zubair) tried to stop him and insisted that the original evidence should be produced against the girl before the police.

“The cleric ignored my advice and said it would make the case stronger and would lead to the eviction of the girl’s family from the area,” he added.

He claimed that at least two other people also tried to stop the cleric from altering the evidence.

Wajid Ali Gillani, counsel of Jadoon, adopted before the district and sessions judge (west) that the prosecution had no evidence against his client who was behind bars since September last year.

He requested the court to acquit Jadoon from the blasphemy case as the liberty of a citizen could not be curtailed for an indefinite period on mere suspicion.

It may be mentioned that after the police arrested Jadoon in September last year, the minor girl was initially released on bail and later acquitted in November in the said blasphemy case.