Priyantha Kumara lynching case: Anti-terrorism court indicts 89 people

An anti-terrorism court has indicted 89 people accused of being involved in the brutal lynching of Sri Lankan citizen Priyantha Kumara in Sialkot.

Gujranwala's Special Anti-Terrorism Court Judge Natasha Naseem heard the murder case of Kumara at the Kot Lakhpat Jail, Lahore.

The prosecution filed separate challans against the adults and the juveniles accused in the case. In the first challan, 80 individuals accused in the case were nominated, while in the second challan, the names of nine minors were included.

In the challan, the prosecution included the account of 40 witnesses, videos of the incident, digital evidence, DNA evidence, and forensic evidence.

The court has summoned 14 prosecution witnesses on March 14 for a hearing.

Diyawadana Priyantha, working as a manager at a private factory in Sialkot, was lynched on December 3, 2021, by a mob after being accused of blasphemy.

The gruesome incident was dubbed by Prime Minister Imran Khan as "a day of shame for Pakistan".

Workers of a garment industry, located on Sialkot’s Wazirabad Road, had alleged that the foreigner had committed blasphemy. He was subsequently lynched and his body set on fire.

The mob had also vandalised the factory and blocked traffic, according to the police.

The brutal murder had drawn widespread condemnation from senior government functionaries, including the prime minister and president, as well as the military's top leadership, who had promised to bring all those involved to the book.