Rimsha case sent to juvenile court
25 September, 2012
ISLAMABAD: A judge on Monday ordered police to refer the case of Rimsha Masih, a Christian girl accused of blasphemy, to a juvenile court, following a medical report that said she was 14. Rimsha spent three weeks on remand in an adult jail after she was arrested on August 16 for allegedly burning pages from the Quran in a case that prompted worldwide condemnation. Police had on Saturday told the court the girl was not guilty and a cleric who allegedly framed her should face trial instead. "We have received the medical report which says she is aged 14. The investigation report of her case must be submitted in a juvenile court," Judge Raja Jawad Abbas said on Monday. Rao Abdur Rahim, the lawyer for Rimsha's neighbour Hammad Malik, who originally accused her, objected to the medical report, but Abbas told him he should apply to the juvenile court when it takes up the case. The judge later adjourned the case until October 1, summoning local imam Hafiz Muhammed Khalid Chishti, who was arrested for allegedly adding pages from the holy Quran to a bag of burnt papers, to the next hearing. End.
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