ISLAMABAD:
The Supreme Court has acquitted a 74-year-old Christian man in a blasphemy case after 23 years of imprisonment, most of which he spent confined to a death cell due to his mental disorder.
“The appellant is more than seventy-four years old and has spent around twenty-three years in prison, most of which was in the death cell. The opinion of the Medical Board raises doubt regarding the culpability of the appellant and its benefit cannot be withheld in the facts and circumstances of this case. The benefit of doubt is, therefore, extended in favor of the appellant and consequently he is acquitted from the charge framed against him.
The judgments of the High Court and the trial court dated 30.06.2014 and 18.07.2002, respectively, are set-aside. In case the appellant is not required to be incarcerated in any other matter, he shall forthwith be released. We expect that the Executive Director of PIMH shall ensure that the medical treatment of the appellant is not discontinued,” a nine-page judgement authored by Justice Athar Minallah said while hearing a blasphemy case pending before the apex court since 2014.
Justice Irfan Sadaat Khan and Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan were also part of the bench hearing this matter.
It is learnt that the case was fixed before several benches more than a dozen times since 2017, but could not be decided.
According to the facts of the case, pursuant to a complaint filed by Inspector Nasrullah Khan Niazi, SHO Police Station Gawalmandi, Lahore, the case was registered for commission of the alleged offence under section 295-C of the Pakistan Penal Code, 1868 on September 28, 2001.
The complaint pertained to a letter dated August 27, 2001, which had been addressed to Haji Mehmood Zafar. The entire letter was reproduced in the crime report.
The appellant was arrested in September 2001, and after completion of the investigation, a report under Section 173 of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898, was submitted before the competent court. The appellant pleaded guilty to the charge framed against him on June 28, 2002.
In his statement recorded under Section 342 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the appellant, Anwar Kenneth, admitted to writing the letter dated August 27, 2001.
The trial court, upon conclusion of trial, convicted the appellant for commission of the alleged offence under section 295-C of the PPC and sentenced him to death. He was also ordered to pay a fine of Rs500,000, which, in case of default, was to be recovered as arrears of land revenue.
The high court answered the reference in the affirmative; therefore, the death sentence was confirmed, and the appeal was consequently dismissed on June 30, 2014. Three years later, the Supreme Court heard his jail petition and granted leave on December 15, 2017.
The offending letter was sent to the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) in December last year. The CII submitted an interim report on September 13, 2024.
After examining the record, the Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH), Lahore, was directed to constitute a medical board and submit a report after evaluating the appellant.
The medical officer of Central Jail, Lahore, through a letter dated January 1, 2025, addressed to the Inspector General of Prisons, Punjab, informed that the appellant had been examined by medical specialists at the PIMH and was diagnosed with Bipolar Affective Disorder, which was in the hypomanic stage.
The medical board had recommended that the appellant be admitted to the PIMH for treatment. He was admitted on December 31, 2024.
On February 11, the court directed the Executive Director of PIMH to constitute a medical board in light of the principles enunciated by the court in the Safia Bano case.
The board was duly constituted and, after a detailed examination, its findings were submitted to the Supreme Court on May 30.
The board found that the convicted person was suffering from Bipolar Affective Disorder and recommended his admission to the Punjab Institute of Mental Health (PIMH) for treatment
The judgement noted that the opinion of the medical board, consisting of eight medical specialists in the field of psychiatry, has confirmed that the appellant suffered from a serious mental disorder and that it was diagnosed for the first time when he was examined in December 2024. The opinion also confirmed that the contents of the letter reflected the typical symptoms of the diagnosed mental disorder, the judgment stated.
The court noted that the contents of the letter clearly indicated that its author was suffering from a mental disorder.
“The conduct of the appellant during the investigation and the trial was not that of a normal and sane person. The contents of the letter reflected signs of grandeur, hallucination and delusional flight of ideas. Though the abnormality was obvious from the conduct and contents of the letter but neither the prosecution nor the trial court had the appellant medically examined by specialists in the field of psychiatry”, the judgement said.
