Court issues guidelines related to religious beliefs crimes for police

LAHORE: While issuing rules for investigating offences related to religious beliefs, the Lahore High Court (LHC) noted that the police should obtain a psychological evaluation of the accused from the appropriate forum.

The law of Pakistan stipulates the protection of individuals with mental disabilities. In its ruling, the court stated that a mentally impaired defendant incapable of defending himself could not be tried. A person with a mental handicap cannot be held accountable for committing a crime if he was unaware that his actions are unlawful or illegal.

The court further ordered the Registrar of the Lahore High Court to send the judgement to the Inspector General of Punjab and a copy to the Punjab police head for implementation of the ruling. Justice Tariq Saleem Shaikh delivered a written decision dismissing the blasphemy case against the citizen at the Mianwali police station, stating that it is common for blasphemy suspects to be mentally unstable. A person may have several uncontrollable dreams each night.