Pakistan: Court grants Bail to 52 Islamists Accused of Lynching Elderly Christian, “There’s Very Little Hope for Justice for the Victim”

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by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Following reported pressure from a powerful hardline Islamic group, a court in Punjab Province, Pakistan last week granted bail to 52 Islamists accused of lynching 74-year-old Nazeer Masih Gill in Sargodha on May 25 over false blasphemy accusations, Morning Star News (MSN) reports.

Devastated by the murder of her husband, Mr. Gill’s widow, Allah Rakhi Bibi, died of cardiac arrest on June 21 at the age of 72.

On Thursday, June 20, the Special Judge of the Anti-Terrorism Court, Sargodha Muhammad Abbas, granted bail to the 52 suspects, including three men named in the First Information Report, MSN reports.

Asad Jamal, a Muslim attorney and part of a fact-finding team with the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan told MSN that Gill’s death was the result of a “calculated assault, manipulated through religious fervor to gain maximum leverage.”

Jamal, who has represented Christians falsely accused of blasphemy in the past added that the police were negligent in their investigation of Gill’s death. “The investigators neither preserved the crime scene nor made any attempt to interrogate the detained suspects,” Jamal said. “The suspects were arrested and sent to jail on the same day, whereas the police should have sought their physical remand for interrogation to record their ‘first version’ statements to link their involvement in the incident.”

Moreover, Jamal noted: “Bails are not granted without notice. “Why didn’t the judge summon the affected family? Why didn’t the police inform them about the bail hearing and bring them to court to present their point of view?”

According to Jamal, Gill’s family is unlikely to see any kind of justice from the criminal justice system or the government. He told MSN a private complaint could be pursued but this would likely be difficult.“Will the police share their evidence with the family?” he asked. “It is not easy to pursue a private complaint in court, particularly in cases where a mob is involved. This particular case is very complicated — both politically and legally — and there’s very little hope for justice for the victim,” Jamal said.

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