Notan Lal Cleared Of Blasphemy Charges after spending 5 Years in Pakistani Jail
After serving five years of the life sentence of hard labor for false blasphemy allegations, last week Pakistani Hindu school teacher and principal Notan Lal was released from prison. Notan Lal was imprisoned after a student falsely accused him of insulting the Prophet Muhammad.
The man, named Notan Lal, is a resident of Sindh province in Pakistan and belongs to the Hindu community, which makes up less than 2 per cent of Pakistan’s nearly 23 crore population.
Last year, a district court sentenced Notan Lal to 25 years of imprisonment for the alleged offence. However, this week, the Sindh high court cleared Notan Lal of the charges while observing that men made witnesses of the said offence were inconsistent in their statements.
Readers may note that lower courts in Pakistan often give in to social pressure while delivering their verdict.
While the Hindu community and its leaders have welcomed the high court verdict, they have expressed concerns over safety of Notan Lal as Pakistan has had a long tradition of mobs lynching those accused of blasphemy, in the name of upholding the honour of their Islamic religion.
HAF Managing Director Samir Kalra applauded the release, stating:
“We are relieved to see Mr. Lal has been freed after five long years of wrongful imprisonment and hard labor. Securing the Mr. Lal’s freedom has been a top priority for the Hindu American community, with over 2000 Hindu American advocates writing to their members of Congress urging them to take action to secure his release. Now that the day has finally come, we hope the Government of Pakistan will take additional steps to provide security to Mr. Lal to protect him against the mob violence that is all too frequent in Pakistan when false blasphemy allegations arise.”
HAF continues to be concerned about Pakistan’s blasphemy laws, mob violence in Pakistan and many other innocent prisoners of conscience languish in Pakistani prisons due to false blasphemy accusations.
As per media reports, more than 4,000 cases have been filed in Pakistan under its various blasphemy laws since 1985, and since 1992, at least 52 people facing blasphemy charges have been extra-judicially killed by vigilantes. By various estimates, religious minorities are disproportionately targeted.
Read more
- Blasphemy is Crime in Pakistan. Mobs are Delivering the Verdicts New York Times, 3/2/24
- Pakistan: When a blasphemy accusation is evidence, the sentence is often death, Al Jazeera, 2/29/24
- Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws are Misused and In Need of Reform The Washington Post, 8/23/23
- Pakistan’s Blasphemy Laws: Strengthened and Weaponized Against Minorities Indian Defense Review, 10/11/23
- Notan Lal, USCIRF Religious Prisoners of Conscience
- HAF Condemns Blasphemy Conviction of Pakistani Hindu school principal Notan Lal
