A Christian adult, Rehmat Masih s/o Iqbal Masih, was implicated in a fabricated case of blasphemy on declining the offer to change his religion. He has been behind the bars for over 5 months now at a jail in Pakistan, for allegedly defiling and desecrating the pages of the Holy Quran. The Police threatened the family of Rehmat Masih with dire consequences, and asked them not to legally pursue this case. The family had to relocate to a safer place.
Rehmat (aged 44 years), a father of two teenage children, had been serving as a sweeper for 20 years at Zam Zam publishers, whose owners and employees had been offering him to convert to Islam, but he had been repeatedly refusing to change his religion.
Last year on 28 December, Rehmat visited the Zam Zam Publishers for usual work, where he was asked by employers regarding the defiling of pages of the Holy Quran found in the sewerage line to which he replied that he is quite in the dark about missing sacred pages from the publishing company dealing with printing and binding of the holy scripture.
On 3 January 2022, Police arrested Rehmat Masih from Zam Zam Publishers, lodged FIR (No. 454/2021) accusing him of committing blasphemy, and severely tortured him to admit the charges of defiling and desecrating the Holy Quran, which is an offense under section 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code, punishable with imprisonment for life.
On 19 January 2022, a post-arrest bail application for the accused Rehmat Masih was filed, however, the additional session judge disposed of the post-arrest bail application (No. 285/2022) in a hearing held on 24 January 2022.
In a court hearing held on 31 May 2022, Rehmat Masih got his statement recorded before the honorable Judge which states “he does not plead guilty to the charge regarding commission of blasphemy leveled against him”.
The chairman of the Voice for Justice, Joseph Jansen said that the blasphemy laws have created an environment in which people, including complainants and their supporters with influence, believe themselves entitled to take the law into their own hands. He demanded that the police officers must discharge their duties impartially and ensure that their conduct is not influenced by religious beliefs. On the request of the Rehmat Masih family, Voice for Justice is providing legal assistance in his case.
Ilyas Samuel said that the police investigations are proven flawed in the case involving accusations of blasphemy, but it is more disturbing that the police officers are supportive of unlawful practices for making pretend crime a reality, and are presenting fake witnesses with conflicting statements before the honorable court to prove an offense, which has never been committed by the accused.
Malook Samuel said that it is unfathomable that the accused is not nominated in FIR and that there is no eyewitness to the alleged occurrence, and there is no evidence against the accused, but it is sad that the accused is behind the bars, while the complainants and witnesses involved in leveling false allegations against the accused enjoy impunity, and they are not effectively prosecuted for charges of perjury under Section 182 of the PPC whose punishment extends to 5-7 years.
Pastor Tariq George said that t is lamentable that innocent people are targeted to settle personal scores, and the concocted story involving the accusation of blasphemy is crafted to punish the religious minorities for denying to change their faith.
