Court adjourns hearing after Rimsha’s rivals object to medical report

A Sessions judge on Thursday adjourned the bail hearing of Rimsha Masih, a juvenile Christian girl accused of blasphemy, after the accuser’s lawyer objected to the authenticity of a medical report that determined the girl’s age.
Earlier, Sessions Judge Raja Jawad resumed the hearing of the case during which Rimsha’s lawyer Tahir Naveed pleaded for bail on the basis of a medical report, which certified that the accused was not an adult, and was only 14 years old. He said that a medical board, comprising of eminent doctors, had been set up by the order of Additional District Magistrate to determine the girl’s age.
However, the accuser’s lawyer, Rao Abdur Raheem, challenged the medical board’s report, arguing that the board which had issued the report, was not set up by the court, but by the district magistrate. He told the court that on August 28, the court had formally ordered to set up a medical board to ascertain the age of the accused girl, while the presented report had been issued a day before this order. He further claimed that doctors were favoring Rimsha, while the state was also supporting her.
After hearing Rao’s arguments, the court sought clarification from the district magistrate on the authenticity of the medical report, and adjourned the hearing until September 1. During the hearing, strict security arrangements were made by the local police and no unauthorized person was allowed to enter the district court. Rimsha Masih, who is currently in prison, was arrested for allegedly burning pages of a Noorani Qaeda in the Maira Jaffar area in G-12, Islamabad. On August 16, Ramna Police registered a case against her under blasphemy law and sent her to jail. Talking to reporters after the hearing, Rao said that the case was a test, as the accused girl had “confessed” that she had burnt a chapter of the “Holy Book”. During the proceedings, a large number of people including human rights activists were also present in the court.