Man strips off after bail cancellation

Electricity theft accused taken to police station from court

LAHORE:

An old man stripped off in a courtroom after the cancellation of his pre-arrest bail in an electricity theft case in Sahiwal.

Lawyers, court staffers and litigants were astonished to see such an act for the first time in a court.

Accused Abdur Rehman approached the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shabraiz Raja for confirmation of his prearrest bail. As the court staff informed him about cancellation of his bail, he flared up and started shouting.

He alleged that he had been implicated in a false case on charges of electricity theft but no one was ready to hear him. He claimed that he had been facing a false case sine long perhaps because he was poor.

The staffers tried to pacify the man and some of them tried him to take him outside the courtroom but in vain.

The staffers tried to overpower him but the old man was adamant and took off his clothes. He sat naked in the courtroom for a short while and refused to put on his clothes. Soon, police officials who had arrived at the court for their own work were intimated about the incident. They reached at the spot and asked the accused to put on the clothes but he did not budge.

The officials took the naked man towards a police van. A cop carrying the clothes of the accused walked along with him. Finally, the man was taken to Sahiwal police station. A police official told The Express Tribune that the incident occurred in the courtroom but the judge was sitting in the retiring room.

He claimed that the accused was involved in electricity theft and the authorities had received several complaints against him. When officials from Wapda or other authorities visited his residence, he created a scene, the official alleged.

When asked whether an FIR had been registered against the man over the objectionable act in the court, the official replied that no case had been lodged yet. When asked why the old man had acted in such a manner, the official said he claimed that he should have been granted bail.

 A litigant said the accused were normally seen in police vans and in handcuffs but he had witnessed such an incident for the first time. He said a deranged person could have caused a more serious incident in such circumstances.