Guwahati News Desk: A woman principal of a private school in Lahore was sentenced to death on Monday, by a court in Pakistan for committing blasphemy and for claiming that she was a prophet.
The additional district and sessions judge, Mansoor Ahmad, observed that the accused, Salma Tanveer, committed blasphemy by making derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammad.
Meanwhile, during the hearing, Tanveer’s counsel Muhammad Ramzan argued that her client was of “unsound mind” at the time of the incident and urged the court to take that into account.
However, the prosecution submitted a report by a medical board of the Punjab Institute of Mental Health that said she was “fit to stand trial as she was not mentally deranged.”
The events led to the release of a 22-page long verdict by Judge Mansoor Ahmad Qureshi, who said, “It is proved beyond reasonable doubt that accused Salma Tanveer wrote and distributed the writings which are derogatory in respect of Holy Prophet Muhammad and she failed to prove that her case falls in exception provided by section 84 of Pakistan Penal Code (PPC)”.
(Under section 84 of the penal code, crimes committed by a mentally ill person is not considered an offence.)
In addition, the sessions court in Lahore city also imposed a fine of PKR 5,000 ($29) on the accused.
Regarding the case of blasphemy, it dates back to September 2013, when Lahore Police had booked Tanveer under Section 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) based on the complaint of a local cleric. In the complaint, she was accused of denying the finality of Prophet Muhammad and for claiming herself to be the Prophet of Islam.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, colonial-era legislation, have been long termed controversial, and their prescribed punishments, amended by former dictator General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, are considered extremely severe.
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