A man accused of theft was beaten up by his accuser and other lawyers after he won bail on Saturday. The police then registered a theft case against him, on the complaint of the same lawyer.
Muhammad Riasat, the accused, was confronted outside a courtroom at the Sessions Court by a group of lawyers that included Advocate Syed Aftab Sherazi, the complainant in the case.
As Riasat was manhandled and roughed up, other lawyers began gathering at the scene and joined in. They later took him to the bar room at the Sessions Court and detained him there until the Islampura deputy superintendent of police (DSP) and station house officer (SHO) arrived at the scene.
The lawyers handed the accused to the police, who registered a case against Riasat on Sherazi’s complaint under Section 379 (theft) of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). According to the FIR, Riasat attacked the lawyer and stole Rs1,100 as well as important documents. He was also put in lock-up.In the case in which Riasat won interim bail, registered at Sabzazar police station, he is accused of committing a theft at Sherazi’s house. He is also charged with offences under Sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 380 (theft in a house), 148 (rioting armed with a deadly weapon) and 149 (conspiracy).
Sherazi told The Express Tribune that Riasat had abused and insulted him and then attacked him outside the courtroom, so he had responded to the provocations.
Riasat denied this, saying that Sherazi had first used abusive language towards him when he saw him at the Sessions Court and started the confrontation. “He was angry because I had succeeded in getting interim bail and was free,” he said. He also protested his innocence in the first case, saying the accusations were false. He said he did not move a complaint against the lawyers with the police because he did not think they would listen to him.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 22nd, 2012.
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