Karamat was initially arrested in a case registered by Satellite Town police in Sargodha District, Punjab Province, on the 16th of July 2023. Later they charged him with two other blasphemy cases, but the trial court decided that the Christian teenager was a juvenile at the time of his arrest.

Section 295-B describes the desecration of Quran, which is punishable with life imprisonment, while Section 295-A declares imprisonment of up to 10 years for hurting religious sentiments. 

Karamat was accused of writing blasphemous posters and desecrating the Quran in areas of Sargodha. His accusers claimed that Karamat had done this to avenge the Muslim mob attacks on several churches and Christian homes back in August 2023. 

According to Karamat’s attorney, Asad Jamal: “The judge also observed that the petitioner was a juvenile at the time of the alleged occurrence, but amazingly despite the elapse of more than one-and-half years of his incarceration, the challan [charge sheet] had not been submitted in court by the police. The court noted that the accused was not responsible for the delay in the trial, therefore he was also entitled to statutory bail under Section 497 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). I also informed Justice Sarwar that the forensic report of the CCTV footage had failed to establish the facial identity of my client. The judge accepted my arguments and ordered Karamat’s release on bail against a surety of 100,000 Pakistani Rupees [$358 USD]. These lawyers from the Khtam-e-Nabuwwat (Finality of Prophethood) Lawyers Forum tried their best to pressure the court by saying that the accused fled the country after getting bail, leaving the cases in limbo. The family is very poor and is already forced to live in hiding due to the security risks in blasphemy cases. They will need more protection when Karamat is released from prison and reunites with his family.”

Karamat’s father voiced his concerns about their future and the financial burden his family is facing: “I used to earn a livelihood for the family through my tailoring shop, but after Akash was arrested, we were forced to close it down and leave our home to save ourselves from violence. We’ve been surviving hand-to-mouth since then.”

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