Five acquitted in ‘blasphemy’-related violence case of 2017

CHITRAL: Five people charged with violence after an alleged blasphemy incident inside Shahi Masjid Chitral in April 2017 have finally been acquitted in the case by a local court.

These people had been released on bail in 2018 five months after their arrest following the incident on April 21, 2017.

Khateeb of Shahi Masjid, Maulana Khaliquz Zaman, and law enforcement agencies played a key and timely role in controlling a mob that wanted to burn alive a mentally disturbed man for allegedly making blasphemous remarks inside the mosque during Friday prayers.

A large number of people were booked under different sections of Anti-Terrorism Act and later 22 of them were arrested and sent to Dera Ismail Khan from where they were later released.