Rimsha innocent

| by Xavier Patras William

( September 24, 2012, Islamabad, Sri Lanka Guardian) On Saturday (22nd September 2012) the police submitted the interim charge sheet at the session court Islamabad. The investigating officer Munir Jaffari submitted the report to Justice Ghulam Abbas Shah.

The police report states that they didn’t find any evidence or witness against Rimsha Masih for buring the pages of the Norani Qaida (the text book for learning the Quran), she is innocent. The cleric of the nearby mosque Khalid Jadoon Chisti was found guilty of tempering the evidence, adding the pages from the Quran in the bag that was brought to the mosque. The witnesses have already testified in the court against Khalid Jadoon Chisti.

The burnt pages found in the bag were sent for forensic examination in Lahore, the forensic report will be available in a few weeks.

The interim report further states that two witnesses confirmed that it was not Rimsha who went to throw the garbage; it was her six year old sister Savera.

Chisti deliberately tore the pages of the Quran and added to the bag, falsely testified against Rimsha.

Rimsha`s medical has already confirmed that her chronological age is 14, but her mental age is less than that, she is a slow learner and is mentally unstable. Whereas Jadoon Chisti`s malicious intentions framed and sent an innocent girl to the jail, the whole incident has traumatized her.

Hamad Malik`s counsel ( the accuser) Rao Abdur Rahim rejected the police report saying that the government pressurized the witness and the accuser and changed the course of the case to prove that Rimsha is innocent, he said he will peruse the case and will ensure that Rimsha faces trail under the blasphemy law.

Rimsha was arrested on Aug 16th under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, her case gained international attention because of the girl’s age and questions about her mental capacity. On Sept 7, the additional district and sessions court of Islamabad had granted bail to the girl. Later on Sept 8, Rimsha was airlifted from Adiyala jail to an unspecified location within Islamabad under the protective custody of police after completion of legal formalities by her lawyers. Rimsha and her family are forced to live in hiding fearing for their lives. In Pakistan even being accused of Blasphemy is equivalent to being sentenced.