Hindu instructor sentenced to life imprisonment over blasphemy costs in Pakistan

A Hindu instructor was on Tuesday sentenced to life imprisonment by a neighborhood courtroom over costs of blasphemy in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province.

The instructor, recognized as Nautan Lal, was additionally fined Pakistani Rs 50,000 by Additional Sessions Judge Murtaza Solangi in Ghotki in Sindh.The courtroom took two years to convict Lal who has been in jail since 2019 as an undertrial prisoner. In the previous two years, his requests for bail have been rejected twice.Lal was arrested in September 2019 after a video went viral on social media during which an intermediate scholar of the general public college alleged that the Hindu instructor had dedicated blasphemy in opposition to the Prophet.The scholar claimed that Lal, who’s the proprietor of the varsity and teaches physics at a neighborhood authorities diploma faculty, had visited the varsity that day and dedicated the act.Shortly afterwards, a frontrunner of the Jamaat-e-ahle Sunnat celebration and native cleric Mufti Abdul Karim Saeedi filed a criticism with the police in opposition to Lal beneath the blasphemy act.As the information unfold, a protest erupted within the city and a violent mob attacked the Sacho Satram Dham Temple and broken its idols in Ghotki.The caretaker of the Sacho Satram temple, Jay Kumar, later mentioned that round 50 masked males had attacked the temple however some 500 Muslims later got here and guarded the temple the entire evening.Pakistan’s blasphemy legal guidelines have been enacted by former navy dictator General Ziaul Haq within the Nineteen Eighties. Nobody has been executed beneath these legal guidelines however a number of individuals have been killed on mere suspicion of committing blasphemy.Human and civil rights teams have mentioned that the blasphemy legislation is usually misused to settle private enmities and land disputes notably in rural areas.Hindus kind the largest minority group in Pakistan.According to official estimates, 75 lakh Hindus dwell in Pakistan. However, the group claims that over 90 lakh Hindus live within the nation.The majority of Pakistan’s Hindu inhabitants is settled in Sindh province the place they share tradition, traditions and language with Muslim residents. They usually complain of harassment by extremists.Also learn: Eight-year-old Hindu boy in Pakistan youngest to be charged with blasphemy: ReportAlso learn: Pakistani girl sentenced to loss of life for sending caricatures of Prophet on WhatsApp