Pakistan's troubled criminal judicial system has failed to prosecute several notorious figures living there over the years, including Hafiz Saeed, the militant leader with a $10-million American reward on his head, and Osama Bin Laden.
But Pakistani justice has not been hesitant with Musa Khan, a 9-month-old boy who faces charges of attempted murder and whose relatives have spirited him into hiding.
In a case that has heaped ridicule on the under-resourced police force, the baby boy was charged alongside four adults in connection with a violent protest in a Lahore slum in February. Slum residents threw stones at gas company workers who had tried to disconnect households that failed to pay their bills, leading the police to charge an entire family with attempted murder, including baby Musa.
The absurdity of the case became apparent last Thursday when the screaming child was produced in court, and had to be comforted with a milk bottle as a court official recorded his thumbprint.
"He does not even know how to pick up his milk bottle properly - how can he stone the police?" his grandfather Muhammad Yasin said to news service reporters outside the courthouse.
On Tuesday, Yasin said the family had moved the child to nearby Faisalabad for safety reasons, citing the "pressure" it was facing from the authorities.
The case has attracted ridicule in the news media and provided fresh fodder for critics of the country's dysfunctional judicial system, which frequently appears to suffer from misplaced priorities.
Crude police tactics played a central role in the prosecution of Musa, who was charged in February alongside his father and grandfather following the attack on the gas company workers. Lawyers say that Pakistani police often lodge exaggerated complaints against poor families as a form of collective punishment.
The matter is likely to be quickly dropped. Shahbaz Sharif, the chief minister of Punjab Province and brother of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, has ordered an inquiry into the incident. The judge in the case has ordered the police to produce an explanation for the charges.
The child's lawyer has argued that children under the age of 7 cannot be prosecuted under Pakistani law. Musa remains free on bail until his next hearing, scheduled for Saturday.
©2014 The New York Times News Service
