Lahore (Staff report): An Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) on Saturday acquitted more than one hundred people, accused of being involved in Lahore’s Joseph Colony incident in March 2013, in which dozens of houses of Christians were set on fire.
A charged mob had rampaged through Joseph Colony and set on fire the houses following alleged blasphemy committed by a suspect, Sawan Masih.
Hundreds of residents were displaced following the violence.
A court had tried Masih and sentenced him to death in a verdict delivered in 2014.
During Saturday’s hearing, the court acquitted the accused after the prosecution witnesses said they did not recognise them and claimed the suspects were not the ones behind the blaze. They also said they had no objection if the accused were acquitted in the case.
