Two Hindus and a Christian from Dunga Bunga, Bhawalnagar, Pakistan were accused of committing a blasphemy by burning a Qur’an on 28 September.
Bhola Ram (50 yrs), Vishal Tariq (16 yrs), and Adil Masih (25 yrs) all worked as cleaners, and Bhola Ram had been given a free home on the compound of a vet’s practice due to his long years of service.
The men were burning some rubbish that had been found in Ram’s home, including papers that were in a number of black bags When they realised that some of the loose papers were from a Qur’an, they put out the fire, collected the papers and gave them to a neighbouring Muslim.
False accusation
The next morning police arrested them under Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. The men were told that they had burnt the Qur’an intentionally and that the accusers had video evidence of their crime.
However, after closer inspection the police realised the video had been taken at a place far away from the veterinary surgery and contained no images of the three accused men. Moreover, all the people of the community – Muslim, Christian and Hindu – spoke of the good character of the men.
The police undertook a thorough investigation, they were careful with the accused men and did not brutalise them. All three men were released within hours without charge.
