Against police brutality: Lawyers call off strike in Abbottabad

According to a notice issued from the office of Mehsud, the protest was against the manhandling of a lawyer

ABBOTABAD:

The legal community in Abbottabad had announced plans to boycott the court on Wednesday (today) in protest against the alleged manhandling of a female colleague by the police. The lawyer, Rahila Mughal, filed her petition on Tuesday, accusing the police of an illegal search and brutality. However, the strike was called of last minute on Tuesday. “The strike would have caused problems to general public. Also, it would have caused a delay in the hearing of the bail petition of Salim Shah,” secretary general of District Bar Association Abbottabad Jamal Mehsud told The Express Tribune. Shah, Pakistan Peoples Party-Shaheed Bhutto district president, is Mughal’s husband.

According to a notice issued from the office of Mehsud, the protest was against the manhandling of Mughal, a senior lawyer and former vice president for High Court Bar Association Abbottabad Bench. Mughal said, in her petition filed under Section 22-A of the CrPC, that a police contingent headed by DSP Amjad Khan and Mirpur SHO Pervez Khan entered her house in Habibullah Colonyo on Saturday without any search warrant. She said the police officials also arrested her husband even though he had obtained bail before arrest from a local court.

When she tried to resist, Mughal said DSP Amjad Khan grabbed her hand by force, leaving her left middle finger fractured. She also accused the DSP of snatching her cell phone. The petitioner asked the court to register a criminal case against DSP Amjad Khan, Mirpur SHO Pervez Khan and their subordinates for torturing her psychologically and physically, and entering her house without a search warrant. Notices have been issued to the DSP and SHO, and the next hearing in this case will take place on February 4.

The Abbottabad police arrested Shah and sent him to DI Khan jail on Sunday under Section 3 of the MPO. A case was registered against Shah and 25 others for holding a sit-in against shifting of bus terminal on Shimla Hills Road and blocking Karakorum Highway for four hours on January 28.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd,  2016.