A nine-month-old boy in Pakistan has been
accused of attempted murder in a case observers
say highlights endemic flaws in the country’s
legal system.
Baby Mohammad Musa along with his father
and other family members was booked for
throwing rocks at gas company officials in the
working-class Ahata Thanedaran neighbourhood
on February 1, the family’s lawyer Chaudhry
Irfan Sadiq said.
Inspector Kashif Muhammad, who attended the
alleged crime scene and has since been
suspended, wrote in his report that it was a case
of attempted murder.
Appearing in a packed courtroom with others
accused in the case on Thursday, Musa was seen
crying as his grandfather Muhammad Yasin held
him on his shoulder.
Mr Yasin later fed him milk from a bottle while
fielding questions from reporters.
“Everyone in the court was saying ‘How can such
a small child be implicated in any case’? What
kind of police do we have?” the 50-year-old
labourer said.
The charge is in direct contradiction with
Pakistan’s minimum age of criminal
responsibility, which was raised from seven to 12
years in 2013 except in terrorism cases.
Judge Rafaqat Ali Qamar ordered the inspector
to be suspended and granted the child bail,
though he will have to appear at the next hearing
on April 12.
But Mr Sadiq, the lawyer, said the charges
against the child should have been dropped.
“The court should have simply referred the
minor’s case to the High Court to drop the
charges against the innocent child and acquit him
from the case,” Mr Sadiq said
.
“This case also exposes the incompetence of our
police force and the way they are operating,” he
added. [AFP]
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