Daily Times

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Sardar Sher Ali Gorchani on Friday dismissed MPA Shunila Ruth’s appeal in Patras and cousin Sajid Masih’s case, terming it as a ‘newspaper report’.

Addressing an assembly session, Member of Provincial Assembly (MPA) Shunila Ruth brought into light the case of Patras Masih, who has been accused of blasphemy and that of his cousin Sajid Masih, who was wounded after he allegedly jumped off the FIA building’s fourth floor.

Ruth alleged the authorities of ‘torturing and threatening’ Sajid, while she also alleged FIA officials of forcing him to ‘sexually assault’ Patras, in the wake of which he jumped off the building.

“Sajid Masih was tortured and threatened by the authorities and was afterwards taken to the building’s fourth floor and you can read all that happened there in the newspapers,” she said.

Interrupting Shunila during her address, the deputy speaker criticised her for ‘trusting a newspaper report’. He added that leveling accusations against the country’s institutions is ‘inappropriate’ and asked the MPA to refrain from doing so.

On Friday, Sajid Mashi, a Christian, got severely injured after he allegedly jumped off the fourth floor of the FIA Lahore Office building as FIA official(s) were investigating an alleged blasphemy case.

Shahid, a family member of injured Sajid Masih, told Daily Times that his cousin Patras Masih had shared some blasphemous material on a Facebook page. He added that Shahdara Town Police Station had registered a case under Section 295-C of the blasphemy law against Patras on the complaint of Hafiz Muhammad Awais.

The complainant had alleged that Patras had posted some blasphemous material on a Facebook page on Jan 16, 2018.

Shahid said that police had arrested Patras and later handed him over to FIA Cybercrime Wing for interrogation. The FIA had summoned Sajid Masih to the headquarters for questioning after Patras said during preliminary investigation that he had shared a blasphemous image with his cousin via Facebook.