January 6, 2025
By Rehan Piracha
KASUR
Police have successfully apprehended a suspect involved in the desecration of a church in the Kot Radha Kishan area within just six hours of the incident. Acting on directives from District Police Officer (DPO) Kasur Muhammad Eisa Khan, police teams working continuously managed to take local resident identified as Allah Rakha into custody, who has also confessed to the crime.
According to police sources, Kot Radha Kishan police station received information at 8:40 am on January 5, 2025, that unidentified culprits had vandalised the Feroz Din Tak Memorial Church in Ghanikay and torn pages of the Holy Bible.
In the First Formation Report lodged with Kot Radha Kishan Police Station, complainant, Tariq Masih, who is in charge of the church, said upon opening the church for worship at 4 am, he found that the grills on both sides of the door were broken.
“The holy table and vases were knocked down, and sacred books were thrown on the floor and torn. The cross was also twisted, and the church’s sound system had been damaged,” he stated in the FIR.
“Unknown culprits have committed excess by desecrating the sacred items and books in the church. The culprits should be traced and legal action taken against them to ensure the strictest punishment,” he said in his complaint.
Swift police action
Upon receiving the information, DPO Kasur Muhammad Eisa Khan, SP Investigation Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, DSP Sadar Afzal Dogar, and three Station House Officers (SHOs) immediately rushed to the scene. Police registered a criminal case under Section 295 (offences related to religion) and Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religious beliefs) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) based on the complaint.
Police teams summoned the Crime Scene Unit and Punjab Forensic Science Agency (PFSA) teams, obtained CCTV footage, and deployed additional personnel in the area.
Motive behind the crime
According to a police spokesperson, the suspect Allah Rakha had a dispute with some members of the local Christian community a few days earlier, and he committed the alleged desecration to “take revenge from his rivals.” The spokesperson added that the suspect also damaged Christian religious symbols and church property.
Peter Jacob, minority rights activist and executive director of the Centre for Social Justice, emphasized the need for careful assessment and proportionate response to such incidents. “In a situation like ours, ordinary crime, conspiracies and organised crime co-exist. Therefore all stakeholders, including watchers of the rights, bearers of the rights, law enforcement and police, they must all watch against any act of smaller gravity and a bigger gravity,” he told Voicepk.
Jacob drew attention to the varying nature of incidents affecting religious minorities. “There is, of course, a marked difference between what happened in Kot Radha Kishan and Sargodha and Jaranwala and Shantinagar for instance.”
He stressed the importance of restraint and due process: “Therefore, a maximum restraint has to be exercised in order to not only assess, do the fact-finding, but also reporting and passing on the news, because ordinary criminals and people who are incidentally indulging in crimes should not be punished as fairly as the people who are, for instance, mongering hate on a regular basis and abusing blasphemy laws.”
Jacob concluded by underlining the necessity of just application of law: “Therefore, law must be just and its application by all stakeholders should be just and for the purpose of spreading peace and justice.”
Ensuring minority protection
To prevent any law and order situation, police took the Christian community and local notables into confidence. A police team led by SP Investigation has taken the suspect into custody and initiated further investigation.
DPO Kasur Muhammad Eisa Khan stated that “the protection of minorities is the top priority of Kasur Police, and swift and strict action will be taken against culprits in such incidents.”
A police official at the Kot Radha Kishan Police Station told Voicepk that the suspect appeared to a habitual drug addict and carried out the vandalisation while under the influence of the ice drug. The suspect would be produced before a magistrate for remand tomorrow morning (Wednesday), the police official said, adding that the investigation officer would seek remand of the suspect for 14 days as per procedure.