LHC summons case record on appeal against conviction

Judge says a few lawyers have hijacked the whole system

LAHORE: A division bench of the Lahore High Court summoned case records on the appeal of a lawyer who was sentenced by an anti-terrorism court to 18 years after he assaulted a judge.

An anti-terrorism court in Faisalabad issued the sentence to Imran Manj under Section 7 of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 324 and other sections of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC). The lawyer had injured a judge by throwing a chair at him during the hearing of a case.

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As the two-member bench, headed by Justice Sayyed Mazahar Ali Akbar Naqvi commenced proceedings, Justice Naqvi told the lawyers representing Manj that he came to know that there was a video clip in which abusive language was used by some lawyers against judges. Senior lawyer Burhan Moazam Malik said the practice licences of the lawyers who used abusive language have been cancelled.

“Who are those lawyers, are they not part of your community?” Justice Naqvi asked. “We strongly condemn such conduct and it will not be tolerated,” Malik replied.

“Is it not contempt of court if someone throws a chair on a judge?” Justice Naqvi asked. The bench sought a report on what sort of action had been taken by concerned quarters of this incident. Advocate Burhan Muazam said the licence of Advocate Mehboob Watto has been cancelled. “A few lawyers have high jacked the whole system,” Justice Naqvi said.

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In his appeal, petitioner Imran Manj contended that the ATC had handed in the verdict in a short span of time, thus ignoring several legal aspects of the case. “The legal procedure was not adopted in his case. The decision handed in by the ATC was contrary to the facts and he was not given the opportunity to fight this case properly.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 30^th, 2019.