No lawyer for a lawyer’s victim

ISLAMABAD: A young working woman who came under gun attack twice after allegedly refusing to be harassed by a lawyer has failed to find an advocate willing to represent her in the court only because the accused belongs to the legal fraternity.
Resident of Sialkot city, Anam Ashraf, 24, was shot at and injured first in January this year and then in September that followed aerial firing near her house and subsequent threats of bullet spray in the face if she remained reluctant to rapprochement.
As she is bed-ridden after receiving bullets in legs and has no lawyer for representation before the court, her mother has to appear at different forums fighting for justice.
The story doesn’t only shed light on legal fraternity’s tribalism in the face of a case against any member of the community, it also reflects on the challenges posed by other institutions to the women facing discrimination and violence.
While police are not ready to provide protection despite Anam’s written complaint about threats from the accused namely Imran Saeed Advocate, her employer, a private bank, has forced her to resign on the grounds that the management doesn’t want to keep an employee facing serious threats.
With Anam’s unemployment, the crisis has deepened for the family already in trouble as she was the main breadwinner in the girls-only family. Her father, a factory worker, is unable to meet the household expenses single-handedly.
Imran Saeed Advocate, married and father of two, allegedly first sent a letter in 2013 expressing his desire of having relationship but Anam reprimanded him and refused rapprochement efforts that followed, she told The News. It was in January 2015 when two unknown attackers shot at and injured her in rickshaw when she was returning home from bank job.
Another attack followed in September and this time, according to Anam, the accused advocate was the person who fired the shot when she was returning home from job while riding on rickshaw.
This landed Anam in hospital as she received bullet in thigh and ankle. The complaint was registered with the police that instead of mentioning Imran as the person who fired shot, referred to him as if the attack was carried on his behalf but he was not present.
When the matter went to district court, Anam faced a peculiar dilemma. No lawyer was ready to represent her. “First I requested a lawyer who refused on the grounds that being president of the bar, he can’t be a counsel against a colleague,” she said. Another lawyer from the city, she explained, also refused on the fraternity grounds.
Anam then decided to engage a lawyer from outside the city. An advocate from neighboring city, Sambrial, had agreed to represent but didn’t appear on the hearing date. Luck didn’t help her when she even tried to engage a lawyer from Gujranwala city.
Left with no option, the court was requested to engage a public prosecutor to represent her who didn’t appear on hearing date either. In one-month duration, the court fixed hearing four-time but Anam was without lawyer that she needed to contest her case on technical grounds.
The lawyers’ attitude and the complaints against them couldn’t have been better highlighted by former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja in his farewell address that was boycotted by the bar associations. “A Supreme Court bench when took notice of this aspect (lack of accountability in legal fraternity), it was found out that public at large had filed 7500 complaints against the lawyers in last few years. However, the bar councils neither investigated these complaints nor brought any of them to justice,” he said.
As The News approached the accused Imran Saeed Advocate for version, he dismissed the charges including writing letters. “I had negotiated patch-up between the complainant family and the attackers of the first incident,” he said. But it was not to the satisfaction of the family that resultantly nurtured grudge and held him accused in the second firing incident,” he said. He claimed to be outside of the city at the time of the incident.
Asked why no lawyer is ready to become counsel of the complainant, Imran said: “Although there is no legal restriction, the lawyers nevertheless take care of their fraternity.” He said the complainant can engage lawyer from Daska or Gujranwala not knowing her efforts in this regard have also failed.
According to Anam, Imran had taken the same position after the first incident that he was out of the city. She insisted witnessing Imran firing shot in the second incident for which he is facing accusation.
She also suspects the rickshaw driver being hands in glove with the accused as the driver during investigation said he couldn’t identify the attackers. I had told my mother a week ago about my suspicions regarding the driver, she said. Incidentally, the driver has managed to engage a lawyer, not her.
peculiar dilemma. No lawyer was ready to represent her. “First I requested a lawyer who refused on the grounds that being president of the bar, he can’t be a counsel against a colleague,” she said. Another lawyer from the city, she explained, also refused on the fraternity grounds.
Anam then decided to engage a lawyer from outside the city. An advocate from neighboring city, Sambrial, had agreed to represent but didn’t appear on the hearing date. Luck didn’t help her when she even tried to engage a lawyer from Gujranwala city.
Left with no option, the court was requested to engage a public prosecutor to represent her who didn’t appear on hearing date either. In one-month duration, the court fixed hearing four-time but Anam was without lawyer that she needed to contest her case on technical grounds.
The lawyers’ attitude and the complaints against them couldn’t have been better highlighted by former Chief Justice of Pakistan, Justice Jawwad S Khawaja in his farewell address that was boycotted by the bar associations. “A Supreme Court bench when took notice of this aspect (lack of accountability in legal fraternity), it was found out that public at large had filed 7500 complaints against the lawyers in last few years. However, the bar councils neither investigated these complaints nor brought any of them to justice,” he said.
As The News approached the accused Imran Saeed Advocate for version, he dismissed the charges including writing letters. “I had negotiated patch-up between the complainant family and the attackers of the first incident,” he said. But it was not to the satisfaction of the family that resultantly nurtured grudge and held him accused in the second firing incident,” he said. He claimed to be outside of the city at the time of the incident.
Asked why no lawyer is ready to become counsel of the complainant, Imran said: “Although there is no legal restriction, the lawyers nevertheless take care of their fraternity.” He said the complainant can engage lawyer from Daska or Gujranwala not knowing her efforts in this regard have also failed.
According to Anam, Imran had taken the same position after the first incident that he was out of the city. She insisted witnessing Imran firing shot in the second incident for which he is facing accusation.
She also suspects the rickshaw driver being hands in glove with the accused as the driver during investigation said he couldn’t identify the attackers. I had told my mother a week ago about my suspicions regarding the driver, she said. Incidentally, the driver has managed to engage a lawyer, not her.