Brotherhood: Lawyers boycott courts against colleagues’ booking

Lawyers of DBA boycotted district courts after judge ordered the registration of FIR against two of their colleagues

ABBOTABAD:

Lawyers of the District Bar Association (DBA) boycotted district courts on Tuesday after a judge ordered the registration of an FIR against two of their colleagues.

The lawyers delayed hearings of over 40 court cases and vowed to continue protests till the District and Sessions Judge Justice Aiman Zia, who gave the orders, is transferred from Abbottabad.

Advocates Waseem Fazal and Nadeem Khan were accused by Muhammad Sheraz of beating him up in a civil lawsuit filed on Monday. He also accused the police of denying him the right to register a case against the two lawyers.

The district and sessions judge, exercising his powers under section 22-A of the Pakistan Penal Code, ordered the police to register a criminal case. The order infuriated the lawyers, who  unanimously decided to boycott proceedings of the district courts in protest.

“There was nothing in the complaint constituting a cognisable offence against the two lawyers that allowed the district judge to order the registration of an FIR against them,” Abbassi told The Express Tribune.

Over 500 lawyers criticised the district judge of discriminating against them and vowed to boycott courts till he is transferred out of Abbottabad.

The district judge could not be contacted for comments till the filing of this story.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2012.