ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court (SC) on Monday said that there were clear contradictions in pieces of evidence and depositions in the petition to review Aasia Bibi’s acquittal verdict.
“Since there are no new pieces of evidence in the review petition, therefore it is rejected,” read the detailed verdict.
A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Asif Saeed Khosa and comprising Justice Qazi Faez Isa and Justice Mazhar Alam Miankhel, had rejected the appeal after hearing arguments from the appellant’s lawyer and said that the appellant “failed to prove flaws in the announced judgement”.
The court ruling said, “The petitioner had requested to form a larger bench but there was no such need for it.”
Justice Khosa had also noted that the witnesses were oblivious to the real facts of the incident and made misstatements in court.
On Tuesday, the top court had rejected the review petition and had said the petitioner was unable to pinpoint any mistake in the October 31, 2018, verdict that acquitted Aasia Bibi.
Justice Khosa had asked the complainant counsel’s to assist in deciding what should be punishment for those witnesses who made the false statement. The chief justice had said that under the law, the false witnesses in such cases should be awarded life imprisonment after a summary trial.
Justice Khosa had then announced that “the review petition is dismissed on merit”.
PETITION:
On October 31, 2018, the apex court had acquitted Aasia Bibi, who was facing a death sentence for blasphemy and ordered to release her from prison immediately. The acquittal had led to countrywide protests by the TLP headed by Khadim Rizvi and other radical Islamist parties.
After three days of the massive demonstrations, the government and Labbaik reached an agreement, with the government vowing not to oppose review plea in the case. Subsequently, a review petition was filed on November 1, 2018, at the Lahore Registry of the apex court, urging the SC to reconsider its decision.
The petitioner had also sought the placement of Aasia’s name on the Exit Control List (ECL) till the judgement is reviewed.
In the petition, it was argued that the SC’s acquittal of Aasia Bibi did not meet the standards of jurisprudence as well as Islamic provisions and the “normal principle of justice with reference to application in blasphemy laws”.
The blasphemy allegations against Bibi date back to June 2009. She was working in a field when she was asked to fetch water. Muslim women labourers objected, saying that as a non-Muslim she was unfit to touch the water bowl.
A few days later the women went to a local cleric and put forward the blasphemy allegations.
