Lahore (Pakistan) (AFP) - While
many children his age are still learning how to crawl, 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 told AFP Friday.
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
court room with others accused in the case on Thursday, Musa was seen
crying as his grandfather Muhammad Yasin held him on his shoulder.
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.
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