LAHORE: A sessions court has awarded the death penalty to a man for committing blasphemy on Thursday.

Shahdara police had registered the FIR in 2020 under section 295 A & C of the PPC on the complaint of Niaz Ahmad Noori, a prayer leader and local emir of Tehreek-i-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP).

The complainant alleged that the accused uttered disrespectful remarks against the Holy Prophet (PBUH).

The former wife of the convict also testified in the trial proceedingsandpresented an audiorecording of the blasphemous remarks allegedly uttered by him.

Inhis defence,the convictdenied the charges, saying, `I am a Muslim by faith and ready to take oath on Kalma.` He said his former wife, in connivance with the complainant, hatched a conspiracy to usurp hisproperties worth millions of rupees by implicating him in a fake case.

The defence counsel also challenged the prosecution`s story, saying the FIR was lodged with an unexplained delay and the accused was set up in a trap.

He argued that no forensic analysis was conducted of the mobile phone used to record the alleged objectionable remarks by the accused.

In his verdict, Additional District & Sessions Judge Syed Shahzad Muzaffar Hamdani noted that the FIA cybercrime wing conducted a forensic analysis of the voice of the accused saved in a USB device and the result was positive.

The judge observed that no probability of false implication or manipulation for any other reason could be detected and consequently, the intrinsic worth of the accused person`s former wife`s testimony was impeccable and unquestionable.

Rejecting the defence taken by the accused, the judge said the faith of the accused was not under consideration before the court as his alleged act of blasphemy had to be scanned.

He said the accused also failed to produce any document of his property due to which he was falsely trapped by the complainant.

The judge maintained that the defence plea and documents tendered in defence evidence appeared elusive and inconclusive, respectively, which neither served any purpose in favour of the accused nor adversely impacted the prosecution version.

`I feel no hesitation to infer that prosecution successfully proved the case/charge against the accused beyond a shadow of doubt and he (the accused) passed the blasphemous/profane remarks in respect of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and Islamic principles,` AD&SJ Hamdani observed in the judgment.

The judge noted that the accused is a middle-aged person with mature thinking and not mentally or physically ill, nor his counsel agitated any such fact at any stage.

The judge handed down a death sentence to the accused under section 295 C, along with a fine of Rs500,000.