BBC News
"When the main accused in the Mashal Khan murder case was sentenced to death by a Peshawar anti-terrorism court, we were all happy that there would be fear in the future and such incidents could be stopped, but our guess proved wrong and now Till now such painful incidents are happening.
It was said that Shahab Khan Khattak, the lawyer in Mashal Khan's case, who is still with Mashal Khan's father Iqbal Khan, is waiting to see when the Supreme Court would hear Mashal Khan's pending case against the Peshawar High Court decision. Is.
The assassination of Sri Lankan manager Priya Natha by an angry mob on charges of blasphemy at a factory in Sialkot on Friday has raised questions about how the culprits are identified in such cases and whether they are punished according to law. Are
It may be recalled that last year, the Peshawar High Court commuted the death sentence of Imran Ali, the main accused in the Mashal Khan murder case, to life imprisonment, which was challenged in the Supreme Court by Mashal Khan's father Iqbal Khan.
We have tried to find out from the legal experts how the police finally identify the main accused in such a mob and on what basis they play a role in indicting some of the accused in the mob and presenting evidence in the court. ۔
How do the police reach the main culprits of violent mob killings?
Shahab Khan Khattak, a lawyer following Mashal Khan's case, told the BBC that there was a common denominator in such violent mob incidents that people there took pictures and videos of such traumatic events.
According to him, when Mashal Khan, a student of the Department of Communication at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan, was killed by a violent mob in 2017, all these scenes were saved by the eye of the camera. Photos and videos of the incident later went viral on social media.
According to Shehab Khattak, the police first identified in these videos who was inciting Mashal Khan to kill and what was his role in this whole affair. According to him, the police arrested the main accused Imran Ali and made a video of him and then sent the video along with the videos of the incident for forensics.
According to him, it was proved in the forensic that the main accused in the shooting of Mashal Khan was the same person during whose detention the police had made a video and sent it for verification.
According to lawyer Shehab Khattak, there are procedures for gathering more evidence in criminal cases, but in such religious cases, the accused do not deny what they have done and they themselves say that they have done it for this reason.
The first task to reach the main culprits is geo-fencing
Barrister Salman Safdar, an expert in criminal law, told the BBC that in such cases, the main culprits are first identified through video recordings, in which the area is 'geo-fenced'. , Collected through scientific evidence and methods.
According to Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq, former Attorney General of Pakistan, geo-fencing is a long and complicated process of investigation. In his opinion, in this day and age, videos are the main means of reaching the accused.
According to Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq, it is necessary for the police to present such evidence without wasting time, otherwise the credibility of the evidence presented late is affected.
In his opinion, it is also necessary for the people who have made the videos to come to the court and give this testimony as in these cases death penalty is imposed.
According to Salman Safdar, videos of the Sialkot incident are also available.
In this video, the people who are torturing and killing Sri Lankan citizen Priya Natha are seen.
According to him, apart from this, CCTV footage inside the factory can also prove who laid the groundwork for this controversy with Priya Natha.
In Salman Safdar's opinion, modern scientific evidence obtained from police investigations and CCTV cameras, in which mobile data plays a vital role in identifying the main accused and then the same evidence would lead to the conviction of the accused. Are
According to Shehab Khattak, among other evidences, the police may also examine who was on duty on Friday and who played what role when the dispute started.
In his opinion, the manner in which the police collect evidence has its significance in criminal law.
Is the main culprit the same?
According to Maulvi Anwar-ul-Haq, even if a person is killed by a single blow or a bullet, the lives of other people in a violent mob are not spared.
In his opinion, the videos of the Sialkot incident are very clear and other accused who are being identified can also be sentenced under the 'Common Attention' clause.
Regarding collecting evidence from officially installed cameras, the former attorney general says that in such cases, only the person in charge of these cameras can go and convince the court which video was obtained from which camera.
How did the police reach the main culprits of Sialkot incident?
Punjab police have claimed that a mob in Sialkot on Friday tortured to death a Sri Lankan citizen named Priya Natha Kumara on charges of blasphemy and then set her body on fire. Is.
According to the preliminary investigation of the Sialkot incident, more than 100 accused including the main accused have been arrested so far. However, those who provoked the mob have also been arrested.
The report said that the police shifted the main accused to an unknown location after their arrest so that further investigation could be carried out. The report said that the persons involved in the incident have been identified with the help of factory managers.
Speaking at a press conference with IG Punjab in Lahore, the Punjab government spokesman said that 13 main accused were among the more than 100 arrested accused involved in the Sialkot incident. All the main culprits have been identified.
He said that 160 camera footage has been taken regarding the incident and ten teams have been formed for the arrest while the case of the incident includes terrorism provisions. He further said that the concerned RPOs and DPOs were monitoring the raids 24 hours a day.Punjab government spokesman Hassan Khawar said that all the main accused involved in the Sialkot incident have been arrested and they have been identified while I Punjab has ruled out the possibility of police negligence.
A case was registered against the accused under the provisions of terrorism in the police complaint. A Punjab police spokesman claimed that the main accused could be seen in the video allegedly torturing and inciting.
A police spokesman said they had arrested more than 100 people, whose identities were being determined by CCTV footage.
Police said raids were being carried out to nab other suspects.
Facts of Mashal Khan murder case
Mashal Khan was a student of the Department of Communication at Abdul Wali Khan University in Mardan who was killed in 2017 by an angry mob after being brutally beaten.
In the murder of Mashal Khan, 61 persons were named in the FIR, out of which 57 accused were arrested and trial was started. Most of them were students and employees of Abdul Wali Khan University.
Mashal Khan was accused of blasphemy, but the investigation team found no such evidence.
Out of the 57 accused arrested by the police in the Mashal Khan murder case, the court had sentenced the main accused Imran Ali to death, five to 25 years imprisonment and 25 accused to four years imprisonment. The other 26 accused were acquitted.
The Peshawar High Court had ordered the release of the accused, who were sentenced to four years in prison, on bail.
What happened in Johnabad?
In 2015, two places of worship of the Christian community in the Johnabad area of Lahore were bombed, after which angry area residents vandalized during the protest and clashed with the police.
Meanwhile, Babar Noman and Hafiz Naeem, members of the Muslim community, were attacked by a mob. The mob tortured him, thinking he was a terrorist, and then sprayed him with oil and set him on fire.
Police, after a lengthy investigation, identified more than 40 suspects and charged them with murder and several other offenses, including terrorism.
The family later reconciled in the case, after which a new debate arose that there was room for reconciliation in such cases.
