SC wraps up Mashal Khan suo motu case

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday disposed of the suo motu notice of the lynching of Mashal Khan after trial court sentenced the suspects.

During the hearing, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) additional advocate general told a three-member bench led by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar that the suspects have been given punishments.

He added that the provincial government has also filed an appeal against the acquittal of other suspects.

To which the CJP said that since the convicts have already been given sentences, there is no need to carry on with the suo moto case.

On February 8, an anti-terrorism court in Haripur jail had given the verdict in Mashal Khan lynching case, under which one person was given the death sentence, five persons were given multiple terms of life imprisonment, and 25 others received jail sentences. The court also acquitted 26 people in the case.

On April 13, 2017, Mashal Khan, 23, a student at the Abdul Wali Khan University, Mardan was lynched by a mob, allegedly comprising of his fellow students riled up by allegations of blasphemy against the young man. As details of this bone-chilling event, including a video recording of the event, were reported, a different picture started to emerge— one that had nothing to do with blasphemy.

It is pertinent to note here that the joint investigation team (JIT) tasked by the court with probing the murder of Mashal Khan also found the student had not committed blasphemy. The JIT in its report stated that a group in the university had incited a mob against the 23-year-old on the pretext of blasphemy.