Blasphemy accused severely beaten by infuriated mob
Faryad, the accused, is now in police custody.
FAISALABAD: Mob rule trumped the law on Sunday, when an infuriated crowd severely beat a man accused of blasphemy, within the jurisdiction of the Ghulam Muhammad Abad police station.
According to the police, Faryad was being beaten by the mob when the police reached the spot and rescued him from the wrath of the crowd.
According to the police, Faryad allegedly committed some blasphemous acts over which the residents of Marzi Pura caught him and severely thrashed and tortured him.
Receiving information, the police reached the spot and rescued the accused from the mob, which staged a demonstration and blocked the road causing a massive traffic jam.
They chanted slogans and demanded punishment for Faryad.
When Gulberg DSP Chaudhry Ashiq Jatt and Lyalpur Town SP Zahid Mehmood Gondal reached the spot, they pacified the protesters by telling them action would be taken against the accused in accordance with the law.
After this, the police registered an FIR on the complaint of Abdus Sattar, a resident of Marzipura, and started an investigation. The complainant is an activist of Tehreek Dawat-e-Islami and runs a hotel in the same locality.
Sattar told The Express Tribune that the accused is a resident of Marzi Pura and has run a power loom repair shop in the area for 15 years. He added that “in the presence of one Muhammad Ashraf, Faryad uttered derogatory remarks against the Holy Prophet (pbuh).”
According to Sattar, Faryad repeatedly made these remarks, and was reprimanded and asked not to commit blasphemy but “he refused to accept such warnings”.
“Due to this indecent and blasphemous utterance and adamance of the accused, we decided to teach him a lesson and thrash him,” Sattar added.
Faryad, 45, is married and has five children. The residents of the area said he was mentally sound and that he had always called himself a Muslim.
DSP Jatt said, “The accused conceded that he committed blasphemy during an initial interrogation in police custody.”
Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2012.
