People In Gas Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones

Mens rea is Latin for "guilty mind". In criminal law, it is known as a culpable mental state. This is the knowledge or intent that the act committed would be a crime. For obvious reasons children are not held to the same standard of conduct as adults; except in some countries apparently.

There is only one way to top this surreal piece of Pakistani juris prudence, in utero arraignments.

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 is the kind of police you have when your nation has embraced the demonic utterances of a child molester for religious and moral standards. At least he won't be executed until he is weaned from the bottle.

More of the story here.



I apologize for the title of this post.