Lahore; October 02, 2023: A fabricated criminal case was registered in Chenab Nagar police station on December 6, 2022, under the blasphemy law PPC 295-B and the anti-Ahmadiyya law PPCs 298-C and 298-B against Mr. Sani and a few others on pretext of distribution of alleged corrupted translation of the Holy Quran. The accusation was malafide, and baseless. The penal code applied allows imprisonment for life. Mr. Sani whose full-time job is to educate and train his students in memorizing the Holy Quran was ironically arrested for defiling the Holy Quran on January 7, 2023. He is incarcerated in a prison in Faisalabad.
Mr. Sani applied for release on bail. The sessions judge rejected his plea despite the circumstances of the case, the unjustifiable registration, the inappropriate penal code applied, and the fact that the accused had already suffered over nine months in prison awaiting trial.
He filed an bail petition in the Lahore High Court against this decision of the Sessions Court Lalian.
On October 2, 2023, Justice Ali Zia Bajwa of Lahore High Court sent the case back to the Chief Justice, apologizing from hearing the bail application of Mr. Sani. Mr. Sani has been in captivity for 9 months. Justice Farooq Haider was due to hear the case on October 26, but there were no proceedings.
One wonders why a high court judge may recuse from hearing the bail plea of an accused who is clearly being targeted for his belief.
