Anti-harassment: Ombudsperson objects to top judge on bench

Chief justice accepts objection of Yasmin Abasey over him and refuses to hear her case

ISLAMABAD: Federal Ombudsperson for Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Yasmin Abbasey has shown mistrust over Chief Justice of Pakistan Anwar Zaheer Jamali for hearing suo motu case against her for issuing arrest warrant to incumbent chief justice Lahore High Court.

When the two judge bench of apex court headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali on Wednesday resumed the hearing of suo motu case, Yasmeen Abbasi raised objection over the inclusion of CJP in the bench. She requested that the matter be referred to another bench. Upon this, the chief justice accepted her objection over him and refused to hear the case.

The top judge also ordered that the case be fixed before another bench.

Meanwhile, hearing the suo-motu case, the Supreme Court has also entertained the appeal of a lawyer, Sumera Fazal Khan, against the LHC’s April 5 order to set aside the order of Federal Ombudsperson, wherein a penalty of Rs100,000 was imposed on each of the two male lawyers for harassing her.

The high court had set aside the Federal Ombudsperson’s judgment on the ground of jurisdiction. LHC maintained that ombudsperson’s office was in Islamabad that has no jurisdiction in respect of a case, which happened in Punjab province.

The lawyer expressed apprehension that her case has been prejudiced because of on-going controversy between federal ombudsperson and high court.

“The high court was wrong in holding that only Punjab Ombudsperson was competent forum and not the Wafaqi Mohtasib”, she said in the appeal.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2016.