Seven of a family arrested ‘for clashing with lawyers’ at sessions court
Family complains lawyers beat them and police took no action against them.
LAHORE:
Seven members of a family were arrested from Sessions Court premises on Friday after a fight with a group of lawyers including those representing the girl and a man claiming to be her husband in a kidnapping case the family had filed against him.
An FIR was registered with Islampura police against Muhammad Mumtaz, father of the girl, and six others – Shahid, Naveed, Mazhar, Sattar, Miraj Bibi and Ashraf – under Sections 365,511 and 379 of the Pakistan Penal Code. [365 for kidnapping, 511 for punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or shorter terms and 379 for theft]
Advocate Asif Ali, a witness to the incident, said fight broke out between the lawyers and the family when one of the lawyers pushed Mumtaz away from his daughter. He said Mumtaz was trying to persuade her to leave the man she said she had married and return home.
One of the family members said they were trying to settle the matter amicably. He said several lawyers beat them up and later the police arrested six of them but took no action against the lawyers.
Advocate Rai Asad Khan Kharal rejected the suggestion that the lawyers had started the fight. He said he had just left the court along with his clients, the couple who had been married without the consent of girl’s family, when some members of the girl’s family came over and started pressing the woman to come with them. He said they started beating him when he tried to stop them from pushing her. He said some colleagues then rushed to rescue him from them.
Kharal criticised Additional District & Sessions Judge Chaudhary Nazeer Ahmed for being rude to his client. He said the judge’s bias was visible from his statement that his client was a disgrace to her parents.
The girl told The Express Tribune that she had had married the man of her free will and that her family had registered a false kidnapping case against him to scare them so that they dissolve their marriage. She said her father had agreed earlier to the man’s proposal for her but had later he changed his mind. She said they were left with no option but to elope and get married on their own.
The couple had filed a petition in Additional District & Sessions Judge Chaudhary Nazeer Ahmed’s court for a pre-arrest bail. On Friday, their counsel withdrew the petition after the judge said that he would most likely send the girl to a shelter home and order the man’s arrest. The counsel said this would not have been an acceptable ruling. The girl’s father had accused the man claiming to be her husband in the FIR registered under Section 496-A of kidnapping his daughter.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2011.
Seven members of a family were arrested from Sessions Court premises on Friday after a fight with a group of lawyers including those representing the girl and a man claiming to be her husband in a kidnapping case the family had filed against him.
An FIR was registered with Islampura police against Muhammad Mumtaz, father of the girl, and six others – Shahid, Naveed, Mazhar, Sattar, Miraj Bibi and Ashraf – under Sections 365,511 and 379 of the Pakistan Penal Code. [365 for kidnapping, 511 for punishment for attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or shorter terms and 379 for theft]
Advocate Asif Ali, a witness to the incident, said fight broke out between the lawyers and the family when one of the lawyers pushed Mumtaz away from his daughter. He said Mumtaz was trying to persuade her to leave the man she said she had married and return home.
One of the family members said they were trying to settle the matter amicably. He said several lawyers beat them up and later the police arrested six of them but took no action against the lawyers.
Advocate Rai Asad Khan Kharal rejected the suggestion that the lawyers had started the fight. He said he had just left the court along with his clients, the couple who had been married without the consent of girl’s family, when some members of the girl’s family came over and started pressing the woman to come with them. He said they started beating him when he tried to stop them from pushing her. He said some colleagues then rushed to rescue him from them.
Kharal criticised Additional District & Sessions Judge Chaudhary Nazeer Ahmed for being rude to his client. He said the judge’s bias was visible from his statement that his client was a disgrace to her parents.
The girl told The Express Tribune that she had had married the man of her free will and that her family had registered a false kidnapping case against him to scare them so that they dissolve their marriage. She said her father had agreed earlier to the man’s proposal for her but had later he changed his mind. She said they were left with no option but to elope and get married on their own.
The couple had filed a petition in Additional District & Sessions Judge Chaudhary Nazeer Ahmed’s court for a pre-arrest bail. On Friday, their counsel withdrew the petition after the judge said that he would most likely send the girl to a shelter home and order the man’s arrest. The counsel said this would not have been an acceptable ruling. The girl’s father had accused the man claiming to be her husband in the FIR registered under Section 496-A of kidnapping his daughter.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 30th, 2011.