Pakistan’s anti-terrorism court indicts 89 accused in Sialkot lynching case

Islamabad [Pakistan], March 13 (ANI): Pakistani’s anti-terrorism court on Saturday indicted 89 individuals involved in the lynching of a Sri Lankan national Priyantha Kumara Diyawadanage in Sialkot over blasphemy allegations last year.
According to Pakistani newspaper Dawn, on December 3, 2021, Kumara, 49, who was the manager of a factory in district Sialkot, was lynched by a mob, comprising hundreds of protesters, including the employees of his factory. The mob had tortured him to death and later burnt his body.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against 900 workers of Rajco Industries by Uggoki Station House Officer, Armaghan Maqt under sections 302, 297, 201, 427, 431, 157, 149 of the Pakistan Penal Code and 7 and 11WW of the Anti-Terrorism Act.
ATC judge Natasha Naseem chaired the case’s hearing in Lahore’s Kot Lakhpati jail on Saturday and summoned 14 prosecution witnesses on Monday. Meanwhile, all the accused pleaded not guilty.
In the trial, challans were distributed among 40 witnesses and all the accused. According to challans, videos, digital evidence, DNA evidence, forensic evidence, eyewitnesses, including Kumara’s colleague who had tried to save him from the mob, were made part of the investigation, Dawn reported.
It further revealed that the footage from 10 digital video recorders in the factory was sent for forensic analysis, while the accused were traced through the videos from social media and footage recovered from the mobile phones of 56 accused. (ANI)