The 18-year-old Christian is still suffering in prison a month after he won bail in all three blasphemous cases against him as the court delays his release, his father said.
Sargodha’s additional session judge Naveed Khaliq initially gave it to the family of Akash Karamat, who was jailed for 18 months in the case of three blasphemous asp.
“The High Court granted my son bail for three personal guarantees, equivalent to 100,000 Pakistani rupees each, or for filing the same amount of cash bail on February 18, February 13 and February 19, respectively.” “No one in our family or relatives owns registered facilities in accordance with the court’s requirements, so we had no choice but to collect bail from various sources.”
Masi, a tailor who now works as a worker after the arrest of his son forced his family to leave his hometown on August 27, said after the first week’s delay the judge would not accept cash securities as Akash Karamat’s co-appointed Zimran Asim did not appear in court after winning the bail.
“He said that if there were no guarantors in the process, Akash would disappear too,” Masi said. “I personally, like my fellow lawyers, I have repeatedly appealed to the judges to make his decision in writing so that we can move the High Court.
On Wednesday (March 19), Masi’s wife took him to court, and the poor couple waited more than four hours to plead in front of the judge, he said.
“In the end, the judge asked us to move forward and was determined that he would not make a written decision on our application,” he said. The judge told them.
He said this isn’t the first time a judge has delayed his decision in his son’s case.
“When our lawyer submitted his application to the judge who declared Akash a boy, he sat in the decision for six months,” Masi said. “Now he has dragged through the matter for 15 days. He simply refused the application and was able to go to the next forum, namely Lahore High Court.”
Masi said there was no doubt that the judge was under immense pressure from Muslims due to the susceptibility of the blasphemous ASP case.
Masi, who suffers from kidney disease that requires surgery, said she is delaying treatment because other families are unable to pursue the release of her son.
“I showed my medical report to the judge and told him that despite the severe pain, I came to court every day to release my son,” he said.
Akash Karamat’s lawyer Asad Jamal said the unfair delay justifying the case under Article 199 of the Pakistan Constitution of 1973 was the unfair delay in releasing him. Article 199 grants the High Court the power to issue warrants, including those for the enforcement of fundamental rights, if no other appropriate remedies exist, to ensure that individuals in custody are not illegally retained.
“We will move through the Lahore High Court for intervention under Section 561-A of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CRPC),” he told Christian Daily International Morning Star News.
Section 561-A of the CRPC gives the inherent powers to the High Court, issues an order in effect on any order under the CRPC, prevents abuse of the court’s process and provides the orders necessary to ensure the purpose of judicial purposes.
The lawyers successfully defended several people charged with false accusations of the blasphemous Asp. He also represents the National Human Rights Commission in a petition filed by the Khatam-e-Nabuwwat Forum, a Muslim group seeking to prevent government adverse actions against “blasphemous business groups” by the government, based on two separate investigation reports by the NCHR and the special branch of the Punjab police.
He said he hopes the High Court will take on the petition as an emergency next week.
Akash Karamat and Asim (35) were accused of secing the Quran by writing a profanity poster in the Salgoda region of Punjab on August 16, 2023. He was charged under several sections of the Act on Bloody Asp, including Section 295-C, which imposes mandatory death penalty and life sentences.
Pakistan ranked 8th on the 2025 World Watchlist, where it’s the hardest place to become a Christian.
