A Hindu teacher was sentenced for blasphemy on Tuesday, February 8. Nautan Lal, a college teacher in Sindh province, southern Pakistan, received a life sentence.
The order was passed by Judge Murtaza Solangi of the Sindh Province court. The order also included a fine of 50,000 rupees or close to $300.
Lal was arrested in September 2019 and has been in jail for more than two years after his request for bail was rejected twice. Lal's arrest came after a secondary-level student claimed that he saw the teacher commit blasphemy against the Prophet Muhammad. Lul, a physics teacher at the local government college, also owns the school where he allegedly committed the act.
A video of the student alleging the crime went viral. After seeing the footage, Jamaat-e-ahle Sunnat, a Muslim religious organization in Pakistan, and Mufti Abdul Karim, a local cleric, filed a report against him. In an interview, Lal's cousin told Radio Free Europe that there was no other eye-witness account except the one student's claim. He also said that Hindus live in fear in the Muslim majority region.
Ramesh Kumar, a Hindu lawmaker, said local Muslim groups had pressured the court to impose life imprisonment for Lal. Kumar also vowed to appeal the decision. "We will request the higher court to thoroughly investigate the case," Kumar said.
Hindus living in Muslim-majority Pakistan face rampant harassment, especially from far-right Muslim groups. Putting Lal in life imprisonment has caused more concerns for Hindu Pakistanis. Pakistan's blasphemy law is severely outdated and misused. Insulting Islam in Pakistan is punishable by death. Although the country has not gone through with any executions, the convicted spend their lives in jail, while unverified blasphemy charges can quickly get out of hand and lead to mob lynching.
In December last year, a Muslim mob in Pakistan beat a Sir Lankan Hindu manager to death and attempted to burn his body. The incident prompted Prime Minister Imran Khan to condemn killings related to blasphemy charges. The PM had to do it again when a mob killed a man last week over burning pages of the Quran.
