PESHAWAR: The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Monday transferred Mashal Khan murder case to an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Peshawar after the family pleaded that they were receiving threats from the accused in the case.
According to details, Mashal’s father Iqbal Khan had pleaded with the PHC to transfer the case from Abbottabad ATC. Last year in July, PHC had ordered to shift the case to the Abbottabad Anti-Terrorism Court from Mardan.
The case is against four suspects, including prime accused Arif Khan.
Mashal’s father, as well as the provincial government, had petitioned the PHC to move the case out of Mardan for fear of a law and order situation. Iqbal has stated that he faces pressure from the suspects’ families and feared the case would not get a fair trial in Mardan.
In February this year, twenty-five accused in the case were awarded sentences of four years each, while 26 suspects were acquitted by the court for lack of evidence.
On April 13, 2017, 23-year-old Mashal Khan was lynched and murdered by an angry mob at the Abdul Wali Khan University on the pretext of committing blasphemy. However, investigators found no proof of blasphemy and ruled that the murder was politically motivated.
