Lawyer awarded two month imprisonment over contempt of court

Rawalpindi : The lawyers of District Bar Association (DBA), Rawalpindi Saturday boycotted all kinds of court proceedings in a general body meeting and demanded suspension of District and Sessions Judge, Rawalpindi, Rana Masood and Civil Judge, Shugufta Sabir.

Civil Judge, Rawalpindi, Shugufta Sabir in an order awarded two months imprisonment and slapped a fine of Rs1000 on Malik Khalid Mehmood, a senior lawyer of Supreme Court on contempt of court charges.

The lawyers in the general body meeting also demanded inquiry against Rana Masood and Shugufta Sabir.

Earlier, the DBA lawyers also filed an appeal before District and Sessions Judge, Rawalpindi to set aside the decision of Civil Judge Shugufta Sabir but district and sessions judge, Rawalpindi did not take any decision on the appeal of lawyers till the filing of this report.

According to details, on April 9, 2019 Malik Khalid Mehmood appeared before Civil Judge, Shagufta Sabir in Behari Colony quarters case. The lawyer wanted an early decision in the case but the concerned civil judge did not agree with him. The civil judge adjourned the hearing in the case till next day and even on the next the ruling in the case was not given.

On April 11, 2019 when Malik Khalid Mehmood once again appeared before the court and insisted for a ruling, the situation in the court got tensed as during the cross discussion, the lawyer and the judge exchanged some harsh words. The civil judge without issuing ‘show cause’ notice, awarded punishment to the senior lawyer on contempt of court charges on Saturday.

Rawalpindi Bar Association (RBA) President Syed Tanvir Sohail said that they were trying to resolve this issue hoping to settle this in a couple of days. Bar and bench are indispensible to each other, we could not provide early justice without cooperation, he said.