Gun club bust-up: In IHC, Daniyal Aziz challenges district court’s order

ADSJ had ordered police to book Aziz, others for assaulting a former GCC employee

ISLAMABAD: Member National Assembly Daniyal Aziz Chaudhary and two others have approached the Islamabad High Court on Monday against an order of a district court directing the police to register an FIR against them.

The order had been issued after Aziz and others were accused of assaulting an employee of the Gun and Country Club (GCC).

The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz MNA, the GCC administrator, along with GCC Secretary Ather Rauf Bhatti and Manager Nauman Afzaal, have approached the IHC to set aside the order of an additional district and sessions judge passed on January 25.

They have made the judge, the Aabpara SHO, and the “terminated” club employee, Yasir Javaid, as respondents in the petition.

In their petition, they said Javaid was terminated from employment following prolonged refusal to hand over charge, blatant disobedience of orders of his superiors, subsequent misconduct, and various attempts to harm the club in order to avoid “lawful termination”.

The petitioners have alleged that at the time of his employment with the club, Javaid was “involved in serious illegal activities damaging to the state, of which the club administration is a part, and is collecting information to hand over to the relevant state authorities”.

They also alleged that the respondent caused disrepute to the club and petitioners by provoking and inciting industrial unrest among employees through “illegal strikes” which are still ongoing. The petitioner said the strikes have been challenged before the National Industrial Relation Commission (NIRC) and the NIRC on January 12 ordered them to call off the strikes.

However, the petition read, the union is refusing to call off strike till Javaid is reinstated and the petitioners resign. They claimed that these acts were intended to coerce the petitioners into rehiring Javaid.

On January 8, Javaid moved an application to the police for registration of FIR against the petitioners, claiming that he was repeatedly punched and kicked while physically restrained and sustained numerous blows to the head.

The petitioners stated in the petition that when the police asked him to undergo a medical examination, “he plainly refused.” Accordingly, police officials at Aabpara Police Station concluded that there were “no sufficient grounds for entering into an investigation.”

Later, Javaid filed an application under section 22-A of the Criminal Procedure Code, 1898, and the judge ordered the police to register and FIR. The petitioners claimed that the impugned order made no reference to evidence, facts and law and failed to consider the record placed before the court.

The petitioners stated that Javaid filed an application in English before the police, but the ostensible application filed before the court is an entirely distinct document typed in Urdu and contradicts the contents of the one in English.

They said that Javaid “has improved his case by making additions to his narrative”.

“The singular motivation of defaming the petitioners was motivated by his desire to conceal his own illegal actions and misconduct which had resulted in his termination from employment,” the petition read.

The judge “brushed aside the findings” of the police and issued a prima facie finding of guilt against the petitioners without providing an opportunity to them, they said.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 31^st, 2017.