BAHAWALPUR: Anti-terrorism court judge Nasir Hussain on Thursday handed down life imprisonment along with other sentences to 14 suspects for lynching a man accused of blasphemy and setting ablaze police vehicles at Channigoth in 2012.

The court, however, acquitted 119 people giving them the benefit of the doubt.

The prosecution had under FIR No. 191 (2012) arrested several shopkeepers and locals for lynching a beggar (Malang) who had allegedly desecrated a copy of the Holy Quran.

The furious mob [on July 3, 2012] after lynching the beggar also targeted police officials, burnt their vehicles and residential quarters and the police station.

According to the prosecution, there were 132 suspects against whom the case was registered and challans were submitted to the court.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2022