A lawyer is seen slapping a policeman deputed outside an accountability court in Islamabad on Friday, October 13, 2017/ PHOTO: Screengrab.
An accountability court located in Federal Judicial Complex (FJC) of Islamabad was forced to postpone its indictment proceedings in a corruption reference filed against deposed premier Nawaz Sharif and his children after dozens of lawyers associated with the ruling PML-N protested in the courtroom.
The protesting lawyers, who also reportedly tried to remove the prosecution team from the dais, had claimed that the law-enforcement personnel, deployed in and around the FJC, manhandled and stopped them from entering the court premises despite the Islamabad High Court’s (IHC) directive.
Indictment delayed: Rowdy lawyers disrupt accountability
After postponement of indictment till Oct 19, the lawyers had also moved a contempt of court application in the IHC which issued notices to Islamabad’s SSP Operation, SSP Security and a DSP and sought their reply by October 18.
However, Islamabad’s Ramna Police Station on Saturday registered an assault and obstruction case against a group of unnamed, ‘enraged lawyers’ and launched investigation on the complaint of inspector Shakil Ahmed.
In his written complained, the official claimed that lawyers manhandled and slapped him. “When I approached them in order to check their identity and let them through, they started pushing and confronting me. And then one of them slapped me and they forced their entry,” he said.
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