Policeman’s case: Lawyers beat up anti-corruption official

A group of lawyers led by former SSP’s relative accused him of bias in the inquiry.

LAHORE:

A group of lawyers, led by Advocate Chaudhry Wasim Bhadar, twice beat up an Anti-Corruption Establishment assistant director – in front of the courtroom of Justice Manzoor Malik and later in the committee room of the Lahore High Court Bar Association office – on Friday.

ACE assistant director Umar Farooq and his assistant were summoned by Justice Manzoor Malik in a petition moved by former SPP Chaudhry Shafqaat. Shafqaat had requested the court to issue directives for the ACE to suspend an inquiry against him.

Justice Malik adjourned the hearing on account of the absence of ACE counsel.

Wasim Bhadar, a close relative of Chaudhry Shafqaat, and some other lawyers first stopped Farooq and tried to snatch documents from him when he was heading out of the courtroom after the hearing. They accused him of being biased in the inquiry against the former SSP. Farooq went inside the courtroom to complain about the incident to Justice Malik.  Justice Malik told him that he would take up the issue during the next hearing. He suggested that Farooq should follow legal course and lodge a complaint against the accused lawyers.

On heading out of the courtroom, Farooq was again confronted by Bhadar and his associates. They assaulted him, breaking his spectacles. Farooq headed back to the courtroom to inform the judge about the incident. “How can I conduct the inquiry on merit when I am under this kind of pressure?” he asked the judge.

Justice Malik summoned Lahore High Court Bar Association president Asghar Ali Gill and directed him to take notice of the matter.

Gill apologised to Farooq and took him to the bar office to resolve the matter ‘amicably’. He had just left Farooq in the committee room and gone out to meet someone when Bhadar and his associates again tried to attack him. Farooq and his assistant however managed to flee this time. Earlier, Gill had assured Justice Malik that he would inquire into the incident. However, he said, he first needed to listen to the lawyers’ account.

“There are more than 14,000 lawyers in Lahore. The whole community cannot be blamed for the wrongdoings of a few,” he said. Farooq had not filed any compliant with the police for registration of a case against his assailants till late Friday night. The bar also had not initiated any inquiry against the lawyer.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 16^th, 2011.