Lahore Court acquits man in blasphemy case , citing prosecution’s failure to prove charges

A sessions court in Lahore on Monday acquitted a man accused of desecrating the Holy Quran, ruling that the prosecution had completely failed to establish any direct connection between the accused and the alleged act.

A sessions court in Lahore on Monday acquitted a man accused of desecrating the Holy Quran, ruling that the prosecution had completely failed to establish any direct connection between the accused and the alleged act. The verdict, delivered by Additional District and Sessions Judge, granted the accused the benefit of the doubt and ordered his immediate release.

Police had registered an FIR on April 27, 2024, under Sections 295-A and 295-B of the Pakistan Penal Code. The complainant claimed he saw a man near Shadman Chowk place sacred pages beneath his feet, with more pages scattered across the road. However, during the trial, which formally commenced on January 16, 2025, the accused pleaded not guilty and denied being present at the scene.

In his 10-page judgement, the judge observed that the prosecution’s case fell apart primarily because its principal witnesses failed to legally connect the accused to the crime scene. The complainant, while deposing on oath, narrated the incident but completely failed to identify the accused as the individual he claimed to have seen desecrating the pages. Cross-examination revealed that the complainant had not even drafted the application himself. Another key private witness also failed to identify the accused in open court, while the prosecution gave up a secondary eyewitness a security guard who had allegedly helped apprehend the culprit without explanation.

The judge also found the digital evidence, a CD containing CCTV footage, to be legally inadmissible. The prosecution never played the video in court, never approached a forensic expert to verify its authenticity, and failed to send it to a laboratory to rule out tampering. Citing Supreme Court precedents, the judge ruled that the mere recovery of a CD did not amount to proof of its contents. Additionally, police failed to produce any official vehicle registration or ownership documents linking the rickshaw found at the scene to the accused, and a forensic report only confirmed that torn pages came from the same source, without linking them to the accused.

The judge noted that while the court was deeply mindful of the immense sanctity attached to the Holy Quran, the gravity of an accusation could not override the standard of legal proof. Citing apex court rulings, including the Asia Bibi case, the judge reiterated that even a single circumstance creating reasonable doubt entitles an accused to an acquittal as a matter of right. The judge acquitted the accused of all blasphemy charges and directed that the case property be handled and disposed of with due legal reverence.