Lawyers lock sessions court

Protest registration of case against colleague for torturing police official

LAHORE

A group of lawyers of Lahore Bar Association on Thursday locked entrance and exit gates of sessions court for more than five hours in a bid to record their protest over registration of a criminal case against their colleague who had earlier tortured a police official.

The lawyers did not allow judges, litigants and staffers to enter the premises and halted judicial work from 9am to 2pm.

The lawyers locked both main gates of sessions court and staged a sit-in on both entrances.

The News has learnt that on November 19, a group of lawyers led by Ramzan Sindhu advocate and Usman advocate had tortured an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Punjab Police Muhammad Iqbal. The ASI was there at sessions court to submit record of a theft case registered by Ramzan Sindhu advocate before the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Ashfaque Ahmad. However, the ASI stated before the court that the case was fake and fabricated. The stance of ASI turned lawyer and his fellows furious who grabbed ASI as he left the courtroom, badly thrashed, dragged him on the floor of corridors of sessions court and tore apart his uniform.

The ASI Iqbal filed an application with Islampura police station to register a case against advocates, including Ramzan Sindhu and Usman. The ASI alleged that Sindhu had got a 'fake' case of car theft registered with the police station. The lawyers got infuriated when he submitted an 'adverse' report of the case, the ASI added. Later, a criminal case was registered in police station against Ramzan, Usman and some unidentified lawyers.

The registration of FIR made the lawyers more furious and enraged due to which they locked both gates of sessions courts.

The lawyers did not allow anyone to enter sessions court even judges and their other fellow lawyers. After seeing the gravity of the situation, CCPO Lahore approached the spot, later, joined by the district and sessions judge. They pacified the situation by announcing a committee comprising nine members. The committee has three members each from police, judges and lawyers. It was announced that the committee would look into the matter within seven days and will fix the responsibility. After this announcement the protesting group dispersed.

It is pertinent to mention here that it is not the first time that lawyers have locked courts.  Earlier, on June 10, the lawyers had locked all the entrance points of the sessions court.