a person
(i) insults or attempts to insult the religion or religious beliefs of any class of citizens of Pakistan,
(ii) with the deliberate and malicious intent of outraging the religious feelings of that class
(iv) the insult or the attempt to insult may be by written or spoken words or by signs or by visible representations or otherwise. This section establishes a high standard. The insult should not only be deliberate and malicious but also intended to offend a community’s religious feelings.
It frequently happens that those accused of blasphemy have a mental condition. People suffering from diseases such as mania and schizophrenia may lack behavioral constraints and understanding or exhibit grandiose and strange delusional notions that they have descended from God. Autistic people with varying degrees of intellectual disability are another diagnostic group that cannot follow social rules of appropriate reverence and care for what the community considers sacred. In some cases, neurotic disorders like obsessive-compulsive disorder can impose an oppressive demand on the person to blaspheme, which can have serious legal remifications if the community reveres the objects of the blasphemy.
Those suffering from mental illnesses should be provided treatment and protected against punishment.
Investigation regarding an offence usually begins when information about it is given to the officer in-charge of a police station. Its primary objective is to determine the facts and circumstances of the case. It includes, by definition, all the proceedings conducted by a police officer
The law in Pakistan protects people with mental illnesses or impairments. Section 464 Cr.P.C. ordains that a person of “unsound mind” who is incapable of assisting in his own defence cannot be tried. Section 84 PPC recognizes the legal insanity defence. It states that a person cannot be held criminally responsible for an act, if due to unsoundness of mind at the time of committing it, he was incapable of knowing the nature of the act or that it was wrong or illegal.
Article 10A of the Constitution and the principle of fair investigation discussed above require that when a police officer investigates an offence, particularly one under Chapter XV of the Penal Code, he should determine whether the accused is of sound mind. He must apply to the competent forum for his psychiatric evaluation if he suspects mental illness.
The Registrar of this Court is directed to send a copy of this judgment to the Inspector General of Police, Punjab, who shall take appropriate steps to ensure that the Investigating Officers follow the above instructions.
Writ Petition No. 60241/2021
Nasrullah Khan Vs. Station House Officer, Police Station Saddar, Mianwali, etc.
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