There and then: lawyers get jail term from judge they thrashed

Bar association leader claims issue has been resolved

LAHORE: A family court judge has handed down punishment to two lawyers, one of them a representative of the Lahore Bar Association (LBA), after being thrashed by them for declining to announce a verdict in their favour.

Judge Babar Nadeem awarded one-month imprisonment to both lawyers and imposed a fine of Rs200 each over their intervention in the state matter.

The incident occurred after the judge refused to entertain LBA Joint Secretary Mian Usama who wanted to get a verdict of his choice.

The judge declined to accommodate him without hearing the second party, saying “justice required that both the parties be heard and the decision be handed in as per the law”.

Infuriated by the judge’s remarks, Advocate Usama left the chamber. However, after a while, he returned with some other lawyers and abused the judge. The exchange of harsh words turned into a brawl and the lawyers thrashed the judge.



After the incident, the judge came into his courtroom and issued show-cause notices to the accused lawyers, seeking their explanation over intervention in the state matter. As no lawyer reached the court, the judge started proceedings against advocates Usama and Muhammad Adnan under Section 228 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC).

In his order, the judge also mentioned six other unidentified lawyers who were involved in the incident.

The judge awarded one-month imprisonment to each of them with a fine of Rs200. He also directed Islampura police to register an FIR against the lawyers for thrashing him, using derogatory language, creating panic in the court premises and posing threats of dire consequences to him.

Talking to The Express Tribune, LBA President GA Khan Tariq said the incident had been exaggerated as the lawyers had just sought to call on the judge in the chamber but he refused.

“It was not a big issue. However, the matter between the judge and lawyers has been resolved,” he claimed.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2020.