Kiran, a former nurse and a mother of four has been a courageous Christian, upholding her faith. She had joined many WhatsApp groups to share the gospel. One of these groups called Pure Discussions, was supervised by the accuser, Farooqi, Muhammad Ameer Faisal of India and Muhammad Jaleel of Canada. Officials claimed that she had sent blasphemous messages in the WhatsApp group in September 2020. 

Additional Session Judge Islamabad Muhammad Afzal Majoka fined Kiran for 300,000 rupees – the equivalent of $1,077 USD -, following a three-year trial. The Federal Investigation Agency arrested Kiran on the 29th of July 2021. Authorities also detained her husband and two sons, but they were later released. 

Her solicitor, Rana Abdul Hameed stated: “The complaint against Kiran was registered by a Muslim named Shiraz Ahmed Farooqi, who alleged that she had shared content disrespectful of Islam’s prophet. However, Kiran has maintained that she has not authored the content and had forwarded it in the WhatsApp group without reading it. I met her after the judge issued the sentence and can confirm that she is very hopeful of a positive outcome from the superior courts. However, she misses her family a lot and wants to reunite with them as soon as possible. If you examine all cases of 295-C, the trial courts tend to convict the accused even if the cases against them are very weak. This is due to the pressure of the religious groups and fears of mob violence. If you analyze all cases of 295-C, you will see that all the convictions of the trial court are overturned by the superior courts.”

Hammed is going to appeal against the ruling. He emphasized the sad truth that in most cases detained Christians will be charged due to pressure from Islamist groups. According to the Centre for Social Justice, nearly 3,000 people have been accused of blasphemy since 1987, but the actual figures would be much higher. 552 people have been imprisoned in Punjab alone since last year. 103 people have been accused of blasphemy between January and June this year. 

Source: https://www.christiantoday.com/