‘She took my chair, now I am being vilified for beating her up’
Lawyer demands committee of female colleague to vindicate Nasir Khan Banuzai.
LAHORE:
Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) member Nasir Khan Banuzai, who beat up an elderly widow for taking ‘his chair’ in the bar compound, requested on Friday that a committee of female lawyers be set up to absolve him of any wrongdoing in the matter.
Banuzai claimed the chair belonged to him and was reserved only for lawyers but the woman had moved it outside the room and into the main compound. He requested that the bar assist him and clear him of all charges through a fair inquiry. “The media is trying to paint me in a negative light when all I did was remove a woman from my seat,” he said.
On Saturday, in an application addressed to LHCBA president Asghar Ali Gill, Banuzai requested that a committee comprising solely of female lawyers be constituted for a proper enquiry into the matter. “The committee should conduct an impartial inquiry so I can be cleared of all the allegations being levelled at me in the press,” Banuzai said.
On Thursday, dozens of people had witnessed Banuzai severely thrashing 60-year-old Bushra Syeda with his shoe after she fell to the ground from the chair she was sitting in. Advocate Banuzai claimed that the woman was a pimp and that she had provoked him into the scuffle on March 24. “She has been harassing me. I asked her to leave the bar when she had no purpose being there. That was when I tried to push her out,” he said. He said that the woman was sitting in the chair placed near his ‘work desk’ at the bar compound close to the bar canteen. “She was sitting under a Banyan tree. She refused to leave the chair. She told me that the furniture belonged to the bar and not to me and began abusing me. This woman has a poor reputation. I didn’t want her seen near my offices,” he said.
He said that media had painted him as a boor. “They said I thrashed an aged woman for nothing when all she was doing was sitting on a chair at the canteen. I was removing her from the compound because she has no place there and had taken my chair without permission,” Banuzai said.
Banuzai said that Bushra Syeda had started hurling abuses at him when he asked her why was sitting there. “These seats are reserved for lawyers. She had no business sitting there,” he added. He also asked LHCBA president to ban the entry of the woman in the bar.
A news report had quotes eyewitnesses as saying Nasir had dragged the woman by her hair and beaten her with his shoe before she raised a hue and cry. Bushra Sayyeda said “All I did was ask why he was stopping me from sitting on the seat. It didn’t belong to him. He suddenly took off his shoe and began beating me,” she added.
Syeda, who resides at Bund Road near Niazi Bus Stand, said she cried for help but the lawyer showed no mercy. She said that she had been working for lawyers as she fetched clients for them and received a share from the fees.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2011.
Lahore High Court Bar Association (LHCBA) member Nasir Khan Banuzai, who beat up an elderly widow for taking ‘his chair’ in the bar compound, requested on Friday that a committee of female lawyers be set up to absolve him of any wrongdoing in the matter.
Banuzai claimed the chair belonged to him and was reserved only for lawyers but the woman had moved it outside the room and into the main compound. He requested that the bar assist him and clear him of all charges through a fair inquiry. “The media is trying to paint me in a negative light when all I did was remove a woman from my seat,” he said.
On Saturday, in an application addressed to LHCBA president Asghar Ali Gill, Banuzai requested that a committee comprising solely of female lawyers be constituted for a proper enquiry into the matter. “The committee should conduct an impartial inquiry so I can be cleared of all the allegations being levelled at me in the press,” Banuzai said.
On Thursday, dozens of people had witnessed Banuzai severely thrashing 60-year-old Bushra Syeda with his shoe after she fell to the ground from the chair she was sitting in. Advocate Banuzai claimed that the woman was a pimp and that she had provoked him into the scuffle on March 24. “She has been harassing me. I asked her to leave the bar when she had no purpose being there. That was when I tried to push her out,” he said. He said that the woman was sitting in the chair placed near his ‘work desk’ at the bar compound close to the bar canteen. “She was sitting under a Banyan tree. She refused to leave the chair. She told me that the furniture belonged to the bar and not to me and began abusing me. This woman has a poor reputation. I didn’t want her seen near my offices,” he said.
He said that media had painted him as a boor. “They said I thrashed an aged woman for nothing when all she was doing was sitting on a chair at the canteen. I was removing her from the compound because she has no place there and had taken my chair without permission,” Banuzai said.
Banuzai said that Bushra Syeda had started hurling abuses at him when he asked her why was sitting there. “These seats are reserved for lawyers. She had no business sitting there,” he added. He also asked LHCBA president to ban the entry of the woman in the bar.
A news report had quotes eyewitnesses as saying Nasir had dragged the woman by her hair and beaten her with his shoe before she raised a hue and cry. Bushra Sayyeda said “All I did was ask why he was stopping me from sitting on the seat. It didn’t belong to him. He suddenly took off his shoe and began beating me,” she added.
Syeda, who resides at Bund Road near Niazi Bus Stand, said she cried for help but the lawyer showed no mercy. She said that she had been working for lawyers as she fetched clients for them and received a share from the fees.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2011.