Lahore High Court rules against convicting mentally disturbed offenders accused of blasphemy

LAHORE: In a landmark judgment, The Lahore High Court (LHC) has made it binding on the investigating officers in blasphemy cases to conduct psychiatric evaluation of the suspect before proceeding with their investigations.

The court ruling, issued on 12 November, said that a police officer investigating a blasphemy case should determine whether the accused is of sound mind. “He (the police officer) must apply to the competent forum for his (the suspect’s) psychiatric evaluation if he suspects mental illness.”

The complaint was lodged in August 2021 by a former member of the Mianwali district council at the city’s Saddar police station, alleging that one, Nasrullah Khan, had sacrilegious beliefs and was spreading them to the general public. According to the complaint, Khan was saying that he could fly, and that he had seen God and various companions of the Holy Profit in his dreams. This had hurt people’s religious feelings and could incite violence, the complainant argued.

In his ruling, Justice Tariq Saleem Sheikh quashed the First Information Report (FIR) that was registered with the police, ruling that “discussing dreams, thoughts, visions or feelings with others is not a ground for criminal prosecution.”

According to the ruling, the law in Pakistan protects people with mental illnesses or impairments. Section 464 CrPC (Criminal Procedure Code) ordains that a person of ‘unsound mind’ who is incapable of assisting (the court) in his own defence cannot be tried.”

The ruling quoted Section 84 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) which recognizes insanity as a legal defence. According to this provision, a person cannot be held responsible for a criminal act if, due to unsoundness of mind at the time of committing it, he was incapable of knowing the nature of the act or that it was wrong or illegal.

The judge also referred to a 2014 article, “Blasphemy laws and mental illness in Pakistan” by author Muzaffar Husain in his ruling, saying that people suffering from diseases such as mania and schizophrenia may lack behavioral constraints and understanding, or exhibit grandiose delusions.

Autistic people with varying degrees of intellectual disability are another diagnostic group that cannot follow social rules of appropriate reverence and care for what the community considers sacred, the judgement said, adding that in some cases, neurotic disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder can impose an oppressive demand on the person to blaspheme, which can have serious legal implications.

Those suffering from mental illnesses should be provided treatment and protected against punishment, the ruling said.

Quoting Rule 25.2(3) of the Police Rules, 1934, the judgement said: “It is the duty of an investigating officer to find out the truth of the matter under investigation. His object shall be to discover the actual facts of the case and to arrest the real offender or offenders. He shall not commit himself prematurely to any view of the facts for or against any person.”

Similarly, it said, the LHC has in numerous cases ruled that the trial judge should act on his own initiative to protect the accused even if he or his counsel do not invoke the provisions which provide safeguards for persons who cannot understand the wrongfulness and illegality of a criminal act. In support of this, the ruling quoted the World Health Organization (WHO) statistics whereby mental disorders account for more than 4 percent of Pakistan’s total disease burden, and affect an estimated 24 million people.

Justice Tariq also examined the violation of Section 295-A of the PPC and said that, after reviewing the FIR, “we conclude that the violation of Section 295-A PPC is not made out.” He emphasised that there was no claim that the petitioner insulted anyone’s religion or violated their religious convictions in any way.

The judge also went over Section 298 of the PPC, which deals with intentionally hurting religious sentiments through speech, and determined that the facts and circumstances of the current case did not fall under its purview.

The court directed the LHC Registrar to send a copy of this judgment to the Inspector General of Police, Punjab, with the directive that he shall take appropriate steps to ensure that the Investigating Officers follow these instructions.