Christians across Pakistan have expressed deep disappointment after the Supreme Court acquitted the last three men sentenced to death over the 2014 mob killing of a Christian couple in Punjab province.
A three-member Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Malik Shahzad Ahmad Khan acquitted the three death-row convicts on July 10, granting them the benefit of the doubt because of weaknesses in the prosecution’s case and flaws in the evidence presented.
The court also dismissed the Punjab government’s appeal against the Lahore High Court’s earlier acquittal of 102 other defendants in the case.
The ruling leaves no one convicted over the killing of Shahzad Masih and his pregnant wife, Shama Bibi, Christian brick kiln workers who were attacked in Kot Radha Kishan, Kasur District, on Nov. 4, 2014.
The couple was accused of blasphemy before a mob tortured them and threw them into a brick kiln, where they were burned alive.
Police registered a case against hundreds of named and unidentified suspects following the attack.
An anti-terrorism court sentenced five men to death in 2016 and handed varying prison terms to several others. The Lahore High Court later acquitted two of the five death-row convicts but upheld the sentences imposed on Irfan, Mehdi, and Riaz.
The Supreme Court’s acquittal of the remaining three brought the criminal proceedings against all those sentenced to death in the case to an end.
Former Punjab minister for human rights Ejaz Augustine expressed disappointment over the verdict and questioned whether acquittals in serious cases could weaken deterrence against murder, rape, and attacks on vulnerable communities.
Riaz Anjum, counsel for the affected family, said the case exposed broader structural weaknesses in Pakistan’s criminal justice system, particularly in cases involving religiously motivated mob violence.
Anjum, who is also president of the Christian Lawyers Association Pakistan, called for an impartial review of investigative and prosecutorial practices. He said reforms were needed to strengthen the rule of law and improve accountability in future cases involving mass violence.
The Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Pakistan and the National Commission for Justice and Peace, the Catholic Church’s human rights body, also expressed grave concern over the Supreme Court’s judgment.
In a joint statement issued July 14, Bishop Samson Shukardin of Hyderabad, president of the bishops’ conference and chairperson of the commission, joined Father Bernard Emmanuel, the commission’s national director, and Naeem Yousaf Gill, its executive director, in raising concerns over the ruling.
The Church leaders described the judgment as part of a continuing pattern in which perpetrators of serious crimes against religious minorities escape punishment.
They cited the Aug. 1, 2009, attack on a Christian settlement in Gojra, where at least 10 Christians were killed, and all the accused were later acquitted.
They also referred to the March 2013 attack on Joseph Colony in Lahore, where all 115 accused were acquitted because of a lack of evidence.
The statement further cited the June 2024 killing of Nazir Masih, who died after a mob brutally assaulted him over blasphemy allegations. Many of those arrested in the case were later declared innocent and released.
The commission called for concrete measures to ensure justice for religious minorities and demanded accountability for police officials responsible for weak investigations and prosecutions.
The Church leaders urged the government to strengthen criminal investigations, improve witness protection, and prevent failures in prosecuting mob violence cases from continuing to deny justice to victims and their families.
Bishop Shukardin appealed to the Christian community to remain peaceful, pray for strength to endure hardship, and remain steadfast in their faith.
