LHC takes notice of Shahbaz Gill's manhandling on court premises

Directs authorities to examine CCTV footages, identify those responsible and take them to task

LAHORE:

Taking notice of yesterday's attack on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leader Shahbaz Gill on the court premises, the Lahore High Court (LHC) ordered on Tuesday immediate action against those responsible.

Justice Malik Shehzad Ahmad Khan directed the authorities to identify those responsible after examining the close-circuit television (CCTV) footage and bring them to justice.

However, the judge told the police to not harass anyone who has not been proven to be guilty of the crime.

Expressing dire concerns on the incident, the judge observed that every person arriving at the high court was respectable.

Read Eggs, ink hurled at Shahbaz Gill within LHC premises

On Monday, workers reportedly belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) hurled eggs and ink at Gill at the LHC.

Gill, who is the special assistant to prime minister on political communication, had arrived at the high court to attend the proceedings of a case when the incident took place.

One of the videos showed a group of women, said to be of the PML-N, standing near the PTI leader's vehicle holding shoes in their hands, while another showed a man bleeding from the forehead

The security officers later managed to arrest some workers from the scene, including a man identified as Abbas.

Read more PTI supporters accused of manhandling PML-N leaders in Islamabad

Responding to media personnel's inquiries about what had happened to him after successfully making it inside, the SAPM said, "I was pelted with eggs and black ink; it was the color of PML-N's black actions!" "Tthey have now resorted to hooliganism," Gill stated.

On March 6, PML-N leader Ahsan Iqbal was also hurled a shoe at during a brawl outside the parliament where Prime Minister Imran Khan was to receive a vote of confidence from the lawmakers.